IRS, Australia and United Kingdom Engaged in Cooperative Effort to Combat Offshore Tax Evasion

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. 華盛頓---- 今天，美，澳，英的稅務部門宣布了一項互相分享稅務資料的計劃，包括稅務居民的信託和資產公司在世界各地的信息。

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. 這三個國家分別獲得了大量的數據顯示了在新加坡，英屬維爾京群島，開曼群島和庫克群島運作的司法管轄區。數據包括實體（公司和信託）以及個人的身份，以及協助建立實體結構的顧問公司。

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. 美國國稅局，澳大利亞稅務辦公室和英國稅務海關總署已經聯手一起去分析這些數據和已經在其他的司法管轄區發現一些相關的稅務機關的信息。如果其他的稅務機關要求的話，他們制定了一個共享數據的計劃和初步分析。

“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.” 美國國稅局廉政專員Steve T Miller說：“這是由美國國稅局和其他稅務部門去追討國際逃稅的計劃，我們與英，澳合作主要是不讓納稅人有任何逃稅避風港的大目標。

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. 在境外持有資產不一定違法。不過，通常這種境外安排通常被用來避免或者是逃避稅項負債，收入是指由本金或者相關資產所產生的收入。此外，提供或者推銷此項服務的顧問可能會受到民事處罰或者刑事起訴。因為他們這種做法，涉及到避免或者逃稅的責任和避開提供信息的手段。

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. 據預計，這一多邊合作和協調將會讓許多國家更加有效的處理這方面信息和有效的執行相關有可能非法的行為。越來越多的稅務部門正以這種方式一起互相協助稅務要求。

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. 國稅局鼓勵美國納稅人若有境外資產請審查自己的稅務責任，若有需要請找專業人員在適當的情況下參加國稅局離岸自願披露計劃。如果不這樣做，可能會導致嚴重的罰款和刑事起訴的可能性。

本文由李豪會計師事務所提供 ( IR-2013-48, May 9, 2013 國税局2013年五月九日刊物)