Tax Treaty Case Law around the Globe 2015

I. S. 314Introduction

Under pressure from the G-20 countries, the Swiss Federal Council decided on 13 March 2009 to adopt the OECD standard on administrative assistance in tax matters. According to this standard, as set out in Article 26 of the OECD Model, not only information relevant to the correct application of the respective double tax agreement (DTA) must be exchanged, but also information assumed to be relevant for the enforcement of the national tax law of the requesting state. In contrast to the clauses on administrative assistance in earlier Swiss double taxation agreements, Article 26 of the OECD Model does not limit anymore the obligation to provide administrative assistance for the enforcement of national law to cases of “fraudulent and similar conduct”. In addition, according to the OECD standard, information may not be withheld because it is owned by a bank.

As a consequence of the above decision of the Federal Council, provisions on administrative assistance were included in many Swiss double taxation agreements that comply with Article 26 of the OECD Model. The Federal Administrative Court (FAC) has already been called upon several times to consider these clauses. Although...