The Swiss Federal Supreme Court recently published its May 2015 decision regarding beneficial ownership under the Denmark-Swiss tax treaty in a case involving total return swaps and dividend payments. The main question was whether a Danish bank that entered into swap contracts with clients in England, Germany, France and the U.S. was entitled to the beneficial withholding tax treatment on related dividends under the Denmark-Swiss tax treaty. In an agreement entered into between the bank and its clients, the clients undertook to trade the entire return of a specific underlying asset (basket of Swiss shares) against a fixed stream of...