MNeagle
19th July 2010, 09:57 AM
(Reuters) - A Swiss court for the first time cleared the way for the transfer to Washington of bank data about to a UBS (UBSN.VX) client, following the Swiss parliament's approval of a key tax deal.
The Swiss federal administrative court said on Monday it had rejected objections by a UBS (UBS.N) client to data transfer, saying the parliamentary vote had removed all legal obstacles.
"The Swiss federal administrative court has decided that administrative assistance (to the United States) can be given with regards to this specific case," spokesman Andrea Arcidiacono told Reuters.
"(Swiss) tax officials can now transfer the data to U.S. authorities," he added.
Swiss parliament last month voted in favor of a treaty allowing the handing over of bank details of 4,450 UBS clients suspected of tax evasion to the U.S. authorities.
Berne agreed in August 2009 to hand over the UBS client data to Washington to end a damaging tax investigation against Switzerland's biggest bank.
A ruling in January by the Swiss administrative court blocked the data transfer, forcing the government to draft a legal fix.
Arcidiacono said the Swiss administrative court was reviewing about 100 more cases linked to the UBS U.S. tax evasion case, of which 80 are similar to this first test case.
"It is possible that these complaints will be withdrawn. If not, the court would decide in the same way as per the test case," Arcidiacono said.
Swiss bank privacy laws prevent the country from automatically sharing tax information with foreign authorities.
link (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66I3PZ20100719?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28New s+%2F+US+%2F+Business+News%29)
The Swiss federal administrative court said on Monday it had rejected objections by a UBS (UBS.N) client to data transfer, saying the parliamentary vote had removed all legal obstacles.
"The Swiss federal administrative court has decided that administrative assistance (to the United States) can be given with regards to this specific case," spokesman Andrea Arcidiacono told Reuters.
"(Swiss) tax officials can now transfer the data to U.S. authorities," he added.
Swiss parliament last month voted in favor of a treaty allowing the handing over of bank details of 4,450 UBS clients suspected of tax evasion to the U.S. authorities.
Berne agreed in August 2009 to hand over the UBS client data to Washington to end a damaging tax investigation against Switzerland's biggest bank.
A ruling in January by the Swiss administrative court blocked the data transfer, forcing the government to draft a legal fix.
Arcidiacono said the Swiss administrative court was reviewing about 100 more cases linked to the UBS U.S. tax evasion case, of which 80 are similar to this first test case.
"It is possible that these complaints will be withdrawn. If not, the court would decide in the same way as per the test case," Arcidiacono said.
Swiss bank privacy laws prevent the country from automatically sharing tax information with foreign authorities.
link (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66I3PZ20100719?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28New s+%2F+US+%2F+Business+News%29)