Federal Act
on Value Added Tax
(Value Added Tax Act, VAT Act)

¹ The right to ini­ti­ate a crim­in­al in­vest­ig­a­tion pre­scribes as fol­lows:

a.

for in­fringe­ments of pro­ced­ur­al ob­lig­a­tions: at the time when the tax claim re­lat­ing to the of­fence be­comes leg­ally bind­ing;

b.¹⁵⁹

in re­la­tion to do­mest­ic and ac­quis­i­tion tax:

1.

in the case of con­tra­ven­tions un­der Art­icle 96 para­graphs 1–3: six months after the rel­ev­ant tax claim be­comes leg­ally bind­ing,

2.

for tax eva­sion of­fences un­der Art­icle 96 para­graph 4: two years after the rel­ev­ant tax claim be­comes leg­ally bind­ing,

3.

for of­fences un­der Art­icle 97 para­graph 2 and un­der Art­icles 14–17 ACLA¹⁶⁰: sev­en years after the end of the rel­ev­ant tax peri­od;

c.¹⁶¹

in re­la­tion to im­port tax: for all mis­de­mean­ours and con­tra­ven­tions un­der Art­icles 96, 97 para­graph 2 and 99 and in the case of mis­de­mean­ours un­der Art­icles 14–17 ACLA: in sev­en years;

d. and e.¹⁶²

…

² The pre­script­ive peri­od for pro­sec­u­tion ceases to ap­ply if be­fore ex­piry of the pre­script­ive peri­od a sum­mary pen­alty or­der or a judg­ment in the first in­stance is is­sued.

³ The pre­script­ive peri­od for the pay­ment and re­fund ob­lig­a­tion un­der Art­icle 12 ACLA is gov­erned:

a.

in prin­ciple by Art­icle 42;

b.

if an of­fence covered by Art­icle 96 para­graph 4, 97 para­graph 2 or 99 or by Art­icles 14–17 ACLA is ful­filled, by para­graphs 1 and 2.

⁴ The right to con­duct a crim­in­al in­vest­ig­a­tion that has already been ini­ti­ated pre­scribes after five years; the pre­script­ive peri­od is sus­pen­ded for as long as the ac­cused per­son is abroad.