B-17-06 FINMA Circ. 17/6

Having already had its case dismissed in 2015, the FTA is attempting to secure a change in practice. Can the contact information of the requesting authority and its staff be systematically kept confidential from the taxpayer? This is the legal question of principle submitted to the Federal Supreme Court, to which the Court responded in the negative (2C_157/2024). In the context of a tax administrative assistance proceeding initiated by Germany, the taxpayer in question objects to the disclosure of information[...]

According to Judgment 2C_506/2024 of May 4, 2026 (scheduled for publication), issued by the Second Public Law Division of the Federal Supreme Court, professional secrecy does not preclude Switzerland from providing a foreign state, in the context of administrative assistance proceedings, with documents held by the cantonal tax administration that it received from an attorney acting on behalf of his client. In this case, the Spanish tax authorities suspect a taxpayer domiciled in Switzerland of actually being domiciled in Spain.[...]

The principle of subsidiarity does not require a state to consult the taxpayer prior to requesting international administrative assistance in tax matters, as long as its domestic law does not require it to do so. This was the ruling of the Federal Court on the legal question of principle raised in case 2C_352/2024 (intended for publication). In 2020, the Israeli Tax Information Exchange Service requested the FTA to provide it with various information (identity of account holders, identity of beneficial[...]

In three judgments 1C_435/2024, 1C_604/2024 (intended for publication) and 1C_610/2024 of 19 May 2025, the Federal Supreme Court ruled to uphold the freeze on bank assets ordered by the Federal Council in 2022 and 2023, the beneficial owners of which are persons belonging to the political entourage of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The assets had initially been seized following a request for international mutual assistance in criminal matters addressed to Switzerland by Ukraine (see TPF, RR.2017.118-121, RR.2017.122, 6 February[...]