Decision on Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters between Switzerland and India

Facts

In 2012, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (SFTA) received a request for administrative assistance from the Indian Ministry of Finance regarding [A.] . The request concerned account relationships that [A.] (partially indirectly through trust structures) is said to maintain with Bank [B. SA] . The Indian tax authorities wanted to obtain information for the tax periods from April 1, 2004 onwards. The SFTA initially stated that it could not provide administrative assistance. After renewed requests in 2018, the SFTA decided to transmit information to the Indian tax authorities from April 1, 2011 onwards. [A.] filed a complaint against this decision.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court examined whether the information requested by the Indian tax authorities was likely to be relevant. It concluded that, in principle, all documents issued by Bank [B. AG] (in particular the portfolio and account statements) were likely to be relevant, regardless of whether [A.] was a "beneficiary" of a discretionary trust. The Federal Supreme…