Internal Revenue Service has been launched by two companies in the Supreme Court.

Almon Glen Braswell of Gero Vita International Inc and GB Data Systems Inc.

say that the method by which the IRS became interested in their operations is tainted.

The applicants claim that information revealed to the IRS by two former employees of GB Data Systems, was privileged and the subject of lawyer client confidentiality.

The applicants contend that as such, the Minister of Finance should not have issued Notices under the USA-Bermuda Tax Convention Act.

Due to the court action the information has not yet been released to the IRS.

But Bermuda has a tax treaty with the US by which it has agreed to furnish US authorities with information that might help them in their efforts to combat tax evasion.

And it is commonplace for the Finance Minister to be asked for such information from the IRS and other US authorities.

Former Assistant Justice Philip Storr sided with Solicitor General William Pierce and said that before the matter can go to trial it must first be determined whether it is valid for the Minister of Finance to be concerned with how the IRS received its information.

It is the Solicitor General's case that the applicants are bringing their case in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He said that the proper venue would be in the US courts at such time as the relevant information is about to be entered as evidence.

The Court will attend to the matter in a preliminary issue expected to take place in December.

BUSINESS BUC