Tax Treaty Case Law around the Globe 2020

S. 337Chapter 29 Switzerland: Article 26 of the OECD Model and the Broad Interpretation of “Foreseeable Relevance”

Lysandre Papadopoulos

29.1. Introduction

Over the past few years, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (FSC) has rendered numerous decisions in the area of international assistance based on article 26 (Exchange of information) of the OECD Model (2017). Two main aspects of exchange of information based on provisions mirroring said article will be discussed in this chapter in the light of four FSC judgments from 2019.

First, a set of three judgments addressed the question of whether the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (SFTA) can inform the foreign requesting authorities that a natural person is taxed in Switzerland on a lumpsum basis, in particular, on an expenditure basis. Second, one judgment confirmed the validity of a French request from 11 May 2016 concerning roughly 40,000 bank accounts held with the bank UBS AG (currently UBS Switzerland AG) UBS).

Focusing on these two aspects, the author will analyse how the limits of admissible requests for assistance have been pushed further. This chapter will deal with the facts of the relevant cases (section 29.2.), the Court’s decisions (s...