Facts
The appellant [A.] appealed against a final decision of the Federal Tax Administration (FTA), by which it wanted to provide administrative assistance to the Dutch tax authorities (Belastingdienst, BD). The request for administrative assistance dated 23 July 2015 concerned natural persons not known to the BD, who were holders of one or more accounts at [B. AG] (formerly [C. AG] ) during the period from 1 February 2013 to 31 December 2014 and met certain other criteria. The BD requested information on first name, surname, domicile address, date of birth, bank account number and asset status of these persons.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court came to the following conclusion:1. The question raised by the appellant as to whether the availability principle enshrined in Art. 26 para. 3 lit. a and b of the DTC-NL excludes administrative assistance if the requesting state does not provide for a group information procedure in its domestic law is a legal question of fundamental importance. The Federal Supreme Court therefore enters into the appeal.
2. The Federal Supreme Court considers it proven that the Dutch authorities have made a declaration that they are able to obtain the information requested by Switzerland in comparable…