The Revenue Commissioners ( ga, Na Coimisinéirí Ioncaim), commonly called Revenue, is the

Irish Government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...

agency responsible for customs,

excise file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

, taxation and related matters. Though Revenue can trace itself back to predecessors (with the

Act of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a single 'Act of Union 1801') were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Irela ...

amalgamating its forerunners with

HM Customs and Excise HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at the time of its dissolution) was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the ...

in the United Kingdom), the current organisation was created for the independent

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

on 21 February 1923 by the ''Revenue Commissioners Order, 1923'' which established the Revenue Commissioners to carry out the functions that the Commissioners of Inland Revenue and the Commissioners of Customs and Excise had carried out in the Free State prior to independence. The Revenue Commissioners are responsible to the

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

Overview

Revenue consists of a chairman and two commissioners, all of whom have the status of secretary general as used in

Departments of State The United States federal executive departments are the principal units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. They are analogous to ministries common in parliamentary or semi-presidential systems but (the Unite ...

. The first commissioners, appointed by the then President of the Executive Council

W. T. Cosgrave William Thomas Cosgrave (5 June 1880 – 16 November 1965) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ir ...

, were Charles J. Flynn, William Denis Carey and William T. O'Brien as chairman. The current Commissioners are: Chairman Niall Cody, and Commissioners Michael Gladney and Gerry Harrahill. According to its 2017 Annual Report, Revenue had 6,007 full-time equivalent staff in December 2017. Revenue is based in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the se ...

and uses a symbol of its gates as its logo, while its staff work in almost all of the 26

counties of the Republic of Ireland The functions of local government in the Republic of Ireland are mostly exercised by thirty-one local authorities, termed County, City, or City and County Councils. The principal decision-making body in each of the thirty-one local authorities ...

. The mission statement of Revenue is "''to serve the community by fairly and efficiently collecting taxes and duties and implementing Customs controls''". From April 1979 until June 2000 Revenue had control of the issue of the

Personal Public Service Number The Personal Public Service Number (PPS Number) ( ga, Uimhir Phearsanta Seirbhíse Poiblí, or ) is an identifier issued by the Client Identity Services section of the Department of Social Protection, on behalf of the Minister for Social Protec ...

(then referred to as Revenue and Social Insurance Number) to individuals. In 1991 it delegated a block of numbers to the

Department of Social Protection The Department of Social Protection ( ga, An Roinn Cosanta Sóisialta) is a department of the Government of Ireland, tasked with administering Ireland's social welfare system. It oversees the provision of income support and other social service ...

and on 19 June 2000, the issuing was transferred to the department entirely. Since 1 July 2013 the Local Property Tax (LPT), an annual self-assessed tax charged on the market value of all residential properties in Ireland, has been collected by the Revenue Commissioners.

Notable cases

A number of cases involving the Revenue Commissioners have received widespread media attention and/or involved material funds:

Apple Inc

In August 2016, Revenue became central to the proposed application of what would have been the largest recorded tax fine in history. Following an investigation of Apple's transfer pricing arrangements with Ireland, the EU Commission initially found that Revenue had given rulings to Apple that amounted to in State Aid. These findings were however rejected by Apple, Revenue and the Irish Government, and the findings (and fine) were later overturned by the EU's General Court.

Section 110 SPVs

US distressed debt funds were found to be using Section 110 SPVs to avoid material amounts of Irish taxes on their Irish domestic investments (a purpose for which these SPVs were not created). Revenue was the effective regulator (and gatekeeper) of Section 110 SPVs. Finance Minister Michael Noonan moved to address the abuse in the Finance Act, 2016 and increase Revenue's oversight.

Customs cutters

The Revenue Commissioners presently operates two customs cutters for maritime patrols such as prevention of drug smuggling and illegal importation of other illicit goods into Ireland. The two cutters, R.C.C. Suirbheir and R.C.C Faire conduct patrols in Irish territorial waters and are assisted by the Irish Naval Service and the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gover ...

in their work.

References

External links

Revenue.ie – Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Revenue Commissioners Economy of the Republic of Ireland Department of Finance (Ireland) Revenue services 1923 establishments in Ireland Government agencies established in 1923 Taxation in the Republic of Ireland Customs services