Swiss Court Ruling Blocking the Disclosure to U.S. Tax Authorities of Individual Enabler Information (1/5/18)

The Swiss high court has issued an opinion that appears to be a setback for the U.S. efforts to obtain information about individual enablers working for or with Swiss banks to assist U.S. taxpayers avoid or evade their taxes.  The U.S. had expected to receive not only the U.S. taxpayer's Swiss bank financial information and information supplied to the Swiss bank by the U.S. taxpayers, but also the names and participations of the individual enablers (such as bankers, lawyers, and others).  I have not read the opinion, but, as reported, the court held that the information about the individual enablers was not relevant because not indispensable to the case against the U.S. taxpayer.  I cite articles below for further information, but the Swissinfo article concludes with this warning:

Despite Wednesday’s ruling, employees and managers of Swiss banks involved in helping foreign tax avoiders have also not been immune to prosecution.

I will update this blog entry as I get further information\.

Articles:

• Swiss court stops handover of bank employee details to US (Swissinfo 11/3/18), here.
• Helen Burggraf, Relief for some US bankers in Switzerland as court blocks tax case info disclosure (International Investment 11/5/17), here.