In United States v. Payward Ventures, Inc., the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sought enforcement of a John Doe summons served upon Payward Ventures and its subsidiaries (referred to collectively as “Kraken”), which the court had previously preliminarily approved. Following Kraken’s refusal to comply with the summons, the IRS sought to enforce the summons. The dispute between Kraken and the IRS focused on whether the information sought by the IRS was relevant and imposed an undue burden of compliance upon Kraken.

On 2 November 2022, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court upheld the Swiss Federal Administrative Court’s ruling that information can be exchanged to investigate criminal tax matters pursuant to an information exchange request by a foreign tax authority. However, use of the information exchanged for non-tax enforcement purposes is impermissible.

Baker McKenzie are now inviting you to join sessions on specific developments and areas of risk that are on the minds of risk managers and require forethought today. The Series is designed for legal and compliance as well as interested business leaders who want to invest 50 minutes every month to these topics and come away with ideas and practical guidance.