A Swiss court backed two UBS AG clients who objected to having their confidential data handed over to US tax authorities as part of a landmark deal between the Swiss and US governments.
In doing so, the court followed a January test-case decision, which blocked many of 4,450 sets of client data from being transferred to the US. The latest ruling was handed down Monday and made public yesterday.
“There were no reasons provided to show that this case differs from January’s test case, which is why the complaint is approved,” the court wrote in its ruling.
Thomas Brueckner, a spokesman for the Swiss tax office, which had decided the two cases were to be handed over to the US, declined to comment.
The Swiss government has been scrambling since January, when the same court contradicted the government in finding that not all instances of tax evasion should be handed over to the US. After attempts to revisit talks on the August data deal with US officials apparently failed, the Swiss government said this week it will turn to parliament to keep the agreement from derailing.