Swiss Courts Say No to Swiss-Dutch Tax Info Trade

A Swiss court has decided that Switzerland is not allowed to assist the Netherlands in regards to a specific tax case involving a Dutch UBS client. The court came to the ruling that the details requested by Switzerland were too vast to fall under the information trading agreement between the two countries.

Currently the Dutch citizen is fighting an order from the Swiss Federal Tax Administration, which would require him to provide his home country with assistance as they seek out other Dutch UBS holders. Besides the identities, other details were among the information requested. The Swiss Federal Administrative Court ruled against the order that was issued back in November of 2015. They released a statement that the taxation pact that has been arranged between the countries does not cover “group requests that do not include names of individuals.”

The Netherlands approached tax authorities in Switzerland with a request for individuals that held UBS accounts. They were looking for clients who had opened or held accounts between February of 2013 till December of 2014. Besides obtaining the names of these individuals, they requested account balances, and other personal details. Dutch tax authorities had been heavily criticized when it came to their credentials on private citizens avoiding paying their taxes. They were unaware if the taxes were paid or not, which is what lead into the requests.

The Swiss Federal Tax Administration decided to rule in the Netherlands favor, which is what lead the customer to fight against the order. After winning, the courts demanded the tax authority to pay over 6,000 Swiss francs as a settlement.