Revenue Commissioners

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 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 Michael Gladney and Gerry Harrahill. According to its 2023 Annual Report, Revenue had more than 7,000 full-time equivalent staff in December 2023.

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 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.

Notable cases

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

Apple Inc

Main article: Apple's EU tax dispute

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 operate two customs cutters, R.C.C. Suirbhéir (or Surveyor) and R.C.C. Faire (or Watch) which entered service in 2004 and 2009 respectively. The cutters were the first purpose-built cutters to be acquired for the Revenue Commissioners. The cutters were built by a Finnish company, Uudenkaupungin Työvene Oy, based on its RV-series patrol boat. The cutters perform maritime patrols to detect and prevent the smuggling of drugs, weapons and other prohibited goods into or out of Ireland and the European Union.

In August 2023, the Revenue Commissioners signed a contract for a new 35 metre cutter to replace Suirbhéir. The new vessel was built by a Spanish company, AuxNaval, and based on their H35 patrol series. Named the RCC Cosaint (or Protection), it was delivered in August 2025 and expected to replace Suirbhéir by the end of 2025.

References

References

1. "S.I. No. 2/1923 – Revenue Commissioners Order, 1923".
2. [http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/publications/corppubs/75revenue.htm Revenue Commissioners history (1923–1932)] {{dead link. (May 2016)
3. (6 March 2008). "RTÉ News – Feehily named as new Revenue chairman – New taxman is a woman". Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
4. (8 February 2018). "Appointment of Revenue Commissioner". Revenue.ie.
5. "Press Release: Appointment of Revenue Commissioner". Revenue.ie.
6. (18 November 2014). "The Sunday Business Post".
7. (30 April 2024). "Annual Report 2023".
8. Foroohar, Rana. (30 August 2016). "Apple vs. the E.U. Is the Biggest Tax Battle in History".
9. (30 August 2016). "EU Commission Decision on State Aid by Ireland to Apple".
10. (3 July 2017). "Revenue statement on EU commission decision on State aid investigation". Revenue Commissioners.
11. (2 September 2016). "Ireland to join Apple in fight against EU tax ruling".
12. (15 July 2020). "Apple has €13bn Irish tax bill overturned". BBC News.
13. (24 July 2016). "Tax avoidance could run to billions". Irish Independent.
14. (21 August 2016). "'Vultures' minimise their tax bills – as State now appears to have delivered the sale of the century". Irish Independent.
15. (16 September 2016). "Loophole allowing Vulture Funds to pay almost no Irish profit tax shut". Irish Independent.
16. (11 October 2016). "Michael Noonan to target vulture funds with €50m tax bill". The Irish Times.
17. "Patrol boats".
18. "Drug and tobacco smuggling - Intelligence and Operations". Revenue Commissioners.
19. (3 Aug 2023). "Revenue signs contract for a new Customs Cutter vessel". Revenue Commissioners.
20. "H35 Patrol Series".