WASHINGTON — The tax administrations from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom announced today a plan to share tax information involving a multitude of trusts and companies holding assets on behalf of residents in jurisdictions throughout the world.

The three nations have each acquired a substantial amount of data revealing extensive use of such entities organized in a number of jurisdictions including Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and the Cook Islands. The data contains both the identities of the individual owners of these entities, as well as the advisors who assisted in establishing the entity structure.

The IRS, Australian Tax Office and HM Revenue & Customs have been working together to analyze this data and have uncovered information that may be relevant to tax administrations of other jurisdictions. Thus, they have developed a plan for sharing the data, as well as their preliminary analysis, if requested by those other tax administrations.

“This is part of a wider effort by the IRS and other tax administrations to pursue international tax evasion,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller. “Our cooperative work with the United Kingdom and Australia reflects a bigger goal of leaving no safe haven for people trying to illegally evade taxes.”

There is nothing illegal about holding assets through offshore entities; however, such offshore arrangements are often used to avoid or evade tax liabilities on income represented by the principal or on the income generated by the underlying assets. In addition, advisors may be subject to civil penalties or criminal prosecution for promoting such arrangements as a means to avoid or evade tax liability or circumvent information reporting requirements.

It is expected that this multilateral cooperation and coordinated effort will allow many countries to efficiently process this information and effectively enforce any laws that may have been broken. Increasingly, tax administrations are working together in this way to assist one another in identifying non-compliance with the tax laws.

U.S. taxpayers holding assets through offshore entities are encouraged to review their tax obligations with respect to these holdings, seek professional advice if necessary, and to participate in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program where appropriate. Failure to do so may result in significant penalties and possibly criminal prosecution.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced the selection of Joseph H. Grant as commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division and Sheldon Kay as Chief of Appeals.

“Joseph and Shelly are strong leaders who will provide strong leadership and continuity in these critical parts of the IRS,” said Steven T. Miller, Acting IRS Commissioner.

Grant has served as the TE/GE Deputy Director since 2007. As TE/GE Commissioner, Grant will oversee the administration of tax law relating to employee plans, tax-exempt organizations and various government entities. TE/GE serves approximately 3 million organizations.

Grant originally joined the IRS in August 2005 as director of the Employee Plans Rulings & Agreements division. Before that, he was Chief Operating Officer and a Deputy Executive Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Grant also served on the staff of the Oversight and Social Security subcommittees of the House Ways and Means Committee.

In Appeals, Kay will serve as the Chief after serving as the Deputy Chief of Appeals since his return to the IRS in May 2011.

Kay was formerly a member of the Sutherland’s Tax Practice Group, focusing on tax controversy issues, including IRS procedures, dispute resolutions and tax litigation matters. He also served as the IRS District Counsel for the Georgia District where he was the primary legal representative for the District Director, the Director of the Atlanta Service Center, and the Chiefs of Appeals, Collection, Criminal Investigation and Examination Divisions.

The mission of the IRS Appeals organization is to resolve tax controversies, without litigation, on a basis which is fair and impartial to both the government and the taxpayer. Appeals handles and resolves more than 100,000 taxpayer cases a year.