SRG is not allowed to have a say
The SRG is not granted party status in the court proceedings concerning the refund of value-added tax on reception fees. This was decided by the Federal Supreme Court in connection with the cases pending before the Federal Administrative Court.
The Lausanne judges state that the SRG is not directly affected and therefore cannot be included as a party in the proceedings. It was not the SRG but the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) that was the creditor of the reception fee. If a person claims back the value-added tax on the fee, he or she must address Bakom or Billag (the collection agency for radio and television fees) and not SRG.
The Federal Court does not accept the SRG's argument that the content of the fee pot is reduced and thus the share going to it. From the outset, only the amount of reception fees determined in advance by the Federal Council would flow into the pot. The VAT amount collected up to April 2015 is not part of this, as this is due to the Confederation. According to the Federal Court, the fee pot cannot therefore be affected by any obligation to refund.
The SRG has taken note of the Federal Supreme Court's ruling, it said in a statement. It welcomes the finding that any VAT reclaims would not be at the expense of the fee-entitled media.
In April last year, the Federal Court ruled that radio and television reception fees are not subject to VAT. Several people subsequently demanded that Billag refund the VAT they had paid. Billag rejected the corresponding requests, whereupon those affected appealed to the Federal Administrative Court. The proceedings are currently pending there. (SDA)
