According to Sky News, the move comes after authorities in the Netherlands, accused of not having done enough to combat tax evasion, demanded information on Dutch account holders from UBS last year.
Blocked
One account holder won a legal case and successfully blocked the information transfer. A Swiss administrative court later ruled that the request for information was too general to be covered by a taxation pact between the two countries agreeing to share data.
Despite the victory, it may be too late for thousands of other Dutch UBS account holders whose data has already been released.
The Dutch finance ministry – backed by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration – says it is still entitled to use the information, including names and account balances, it received before the ruling.
Appeal
The Swiss tax authority is appealing the court’s decision, arguing that Switzerland’s agreement with the Netherlands does in fact allow for the kind of group requests that had been made for the UBS accounts.
It has, however, put on hold similar requests from the Netherlands that are still pending – including one asking for details on Credit Suisse account holders – until after a final ruling has been made.
