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.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is accepting applications for the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant programs, which will allow some organizations to apply for annual funding for up to three years.

Applications will be accepted only through Grants.gov until May 31, 2013. Previous grant recipients will have the option to apply for up to three years of annual funding which would reduce the amount of paperwork they must complete over the three-year period. This annual funding will also help recipients with budget planning.

Application packages for TCE and VITA are available on Grants.gov. Interested organizations may obtain an electronic copy of the grant application package instructions, Publication 1101 for TCE and Publication 4671 for VITA on the IRS.gov website.

The TCE program was established in 1978 to provide tax counseling and return preparation to persons age 60 or older and to give training and technical assistance to the volunteers who provide free federal income tax assistance to seniors across the nation.

The VITA Grant program was established in 2007 to supplement the VITA program, which was created in 1969. VITA provides underserved communities with free federal income tax filing assistance. The grant program enables VITA to extend services to underserved populations in hard-to-reach urban and non-urban areas, to increase taxpayers’ ability to file returns electronically, to enhance training of volunteers and to improve the accuracy rate of returns prepared at VITA sites.