Dutch given details on 'thousands' of taxpayers' Swiss accounts

The Dutch authorities got information on "thousands" of their taxpayers' accounts at Swiss bank UBS before a court ruling in Switzerland this week put a hold on further disclosures, according to the Dutch finance ministry.

The tax authorities in the Netherlands, stung by allegations that they had done too little to combat tax evasion, last year demanded information from UBS about Dutch citizens with accounts at the Zurich-based bank.

After a Dutch account holder appealed to block the transfer of his UBS data, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court ruled on Monday that the Netherlands' request for data last year had been too general to be allowed under a taxation pact between the two countries which is meant to facilitate the sharing of data.

For thousands of other Dutch UBS account holders who did not lodge similar appeals, however, their information was already transferred to the Netherlands from Switzerland.

A spokeswoman for the Dutch Finance Ministry, as well as a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Tax Administration, said on Wednesday the Netherlands is entitled to use the information it has received - the Dutch sought account holders' names and balances, among other things - because it had been exchanged before the Swiss court ruling.

The Swiss Federal Tax Administration is preparing to appeal against the administrative court's ruling, contending that the taxation pact between the two countries allows for group requests like the one the Dutch made for the UBS accounts.

Until a final ruling from Switzerland's federal Bundesgericht court, however, the agency has put on hold proceeding on similar Dutch requests that are still pending, including one it received for details on account holders at Credit Suisse on Feb. 3.