Group rogatory: Switzerland will hand over UBS Dutch client data

Switzerland will hand over to the Netherlands, on the basis of an application grouped, the data of a UBS Dutch client. Gathered at a public hearing yesterday, the Federal Court (TF) has disavowed the Federal Administrative Court (FAC), who had opposed last March.

In July last year, the Tax Division of the Netherlands had submitted a request for administrative assistance relating to the banking information of UBS. In its request, the Dutch tax authorities had not indicated the names of UBS clients involved, but only provided the criteria for their identification.

It is quite unique: after decisions on the American grouped questions, it was the first time that the Federal Court had to rule on a question submitted by a European country grouped. In this case it was the Dutch tax authorities to have come up with a crowbar: it asked the Swiss federal tax authorities to obtain information on all residents of the Netherlands who had failed to totally or partially respond to the letter by which UBS invited them to show proof of having regularized fiscally their deposits. The Dutch tax authorities do a "pattern of behavior had to be constructed," as it provides for the Swiss Federal Act on International Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters.

Last March, the Federal Administrative Court upheld the appeal of a Dutch taxpayer, considering that the conventional instruments between Switzerland and the Netherlands were not sufficiently clear in favor of the grouped questions.

The majority of three judges against two of II Court of the TF public law has expressed the opposite opinion: the request for administrative assistance can also be granted in the absence of names, "provided, however, that the information from the request are sufficient to identify the people involved, "says the Federal Court in a statement.

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