On 11 May 2016, the French tax authorities requested administrative

assistance from the Swiss Federal Tax Administration. The request was made

based on lists containing several thousand UBS Switzerland AG account numbers

which are or were held by persons presumed to be French residents for tax

purposes. The French tax authorities were asking for Switzerland to provide

names and dates of birth of the persons connected to the accounts as well as

the account balances. UBS Switzerland AG (which the Federal Administrative

Court ("FAC") had granted party status in its judgment A-4974/2016 of

25 October 2016) and private individuals directly affected lodged appeals with

the FAC against the Federal Tax Administration’s final decisions, which were

issued on 9 February 2018.

With its judgment A-1488/2018 of 30 July 2018 the FAC has now ruled on

UBS Switzerland AG’s appeal and has concluded that one of the conditions has

not been met in this case, namely the prerequisite that the request for

administrative assistance must deliver grounds for assuming that the taxpayers

involved have failed to comply with their tax obligations; the Court holds that

simply having an account in Switzerland is not sufficient. The explanations

delivered by the French authorities were insufficient.

The Federal Administrative Court affirms the appeal to the extent as it

declares it admissible. The judgement can be appealed before the Swiss Federal

Court within the restrictions of Art. 84a of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court

Act of 17 June 2005 (i.e. if the legal question at stake is of fundamental

importance or if the case is particularly significant for other reasons).

Bär & Karrer successfully represented UBS

Switzerland AG before the Federal Administrative Court. The team included

Andreas Länzlinger and Roman Huber (both Litigation).