Jurisdiction Ireland Agency executive Niall Cody, Chairman | Employees 5,647 | |
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Formed 21 February 1923 (1923-02-21) Headquarters Upper Yard, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2, D02 F342 Key document Revenue Commissioners Order, 1923 | ||
The Revenue Commissioners (Irish: Na Coimisinéirí Ioncaim), usually referred to simply as Revenue, is the Irish Government agency responsible for customs, excise, taxation and related matters. Though Revenue can trace itself back to predecessors (with the Act of Union 1800 amalgamating its forerunners with HM Customs and Excise in the United Kingdom), the current organisation was created for the independent Irish Free State 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.
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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 first commissioners, appointed by the then President of the Executive Council W. T. Cosgrave, were Charles J. Flynn, William Denis Carey and William T. O'Brien as Chairman. The current Commissioners are: Chairman Niall Cody, and Commissioners Liam Irwin and Gerry Harrahill. According to its 2014 Annual Report, Revenue had 5,647 full-time equivalent staff in December 2014.
Revenue is based in Dublin Castle 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 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 (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 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.
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 Haire conduct patrols in Irish territorial waters and are assisted by the Irish Naval Service and An Garda Síochána in their work.