Indian Revenue Service

Indian Revenue Service

Service Overview
Abbreviation	IRS
Formed	1953
Headquarters	Cabinet Secretariat Raisina Hill, New Delhi
Country	India
Training Grounds	1. National Academy of Direct Taxes (Nagpur) 2. National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics (Faridabad)
Controlling Authority	Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Legal Personality	Governmental Federal law enforcement
General Nature	Taxation Revenue Administration
Cadre Size	5541 (Income Tax) 5592 (Customs and Central Excise)
Service Chief
CBDT Chairman Chairman, CBEC	Mrs. Anita Kapur Mr. Kaushal Srivastava
Head of the Civil Services
	Cabinet Secretary Current: A. K. Seth

The Indian Revenue Service (Hindi: भारतीय राजस्व सेवा, Bhāratīya Rājaswa Sevā), abbreviated as IRS, is the administrative revenue service of the Government of India. It is one of the Central Civil Services (Group A). The Service functions under the Department of Revenue in the Union Ministry of Finance and is concerned with the collection and administration of the various direct and indirect taxesaccruing to the Union Government.
IRS comprises two branches - IRS (Income Tax) and IRS (Customs and Central Excise), which are controlled by two separate statutory bodies, viz., Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) respectively.

Recruitment.

There are two streams of recruitment to the Indian Revenue Service - Direct Recruits and Promoted Officers. Direct Recruits are selected from the prestigious Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission and based on preferences opted by them. Promoted Officers like Superintendent of Central Excise, Gazetted, Group ‘B’ are promoted gradually over several years of service. The current ratio of two streams at entry level is kept at 1:1. Initial posting would be Assistant Commissioners up to senior rank of Principal Chief Commissioners, Member/Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes or Central Board of Excise and Customs.

Training

IRS Officer Trainees (OTs) first undergo a 3-month Foundation Course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration
IRS officers then procced to the National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur or the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics and they undergo a very dynamic training in specialised matters of conventional tax administration (Direct Taxes) along with unarmed combat, weapons and explosives. Additionally IRS officers undergo extensive training with Army and the National Police Academy and many other prestigious institutes of the country so that they are better prepared to excel in their multi-faceted role. NADT has signed an MOU with NALSAR University in Hyderabad to award Masters Degree in Business laws and Taxation to the Officer Trainees. Recently, Finance Ministry has approved exchange of officer trainees to various countries across the world such as Australia, Malaysia, United States of America, Brazil, South Africa and OECD Nations for increasing exposure to the future administrators

Designations.

The designations and time-scales within the Indian Revenue Service are as follows after cadre restructure:^[1]

	Position / Pay Grade in the Government of India	Level and Rank	Order of Precedence (As per Presidential order)	Equivalent Position or Designation in the State Government(s)
1	Junior Time Scale	Assistant Commissioner  Entry-level (Probationer)		Additional District Magistrate/Assistant Superintendent of Police
2	Senior Time Scale	Deputy Commissioner  (Equivalent to) Under Secretary to Government of India		District Magistrate/ Superintendent of Police
3	Junior Administrative Grade	Joint Commissioner  (Equivalent to) Deputy Secretary to Government of India		Special Secretary/Senior Superintendent of Police
4	Selection Grade	Additional Commissioner  (Equivalent to) Director to Government of India		Secretary/Deputy Inspector General of Police
5	Senior Administrative Grade	Commissioner /Additional Director General (Equivalent to) Joint Secretary to Government of India	26	Secretary/Inspector General of Police
6	Higher Administrative Grade	Principal Commissioner (Equivalent to) Additional Secretary to Government of India	25	Principal Secretary/Additional Director General of Police
7	Higher Administrative Grade +	Chief Commissioner/Director General (Equivalent to) Additional Secretary to Government of India	25	Addl.Chief Secretary/ Director General of Police
8	Apex Scale	Principal Chief Commissioner of  (Equivalent to) Special Secretary to Government of India	23	Chief Secretary/ Director General of Police
9	Apex Scale	CBDT/ CBEC Chairman/Member CBEC/CBDT/DG Central Economic Intelligence Bureau(Equivalent to) Secretary to Government of India	23	Secretary to the Government of India

Work Profile.

Indian Revenue Services officers are mainly attached to the Income Tax and Central Excise and Customs Departments but are also deputed to many other agencies and departments in the central and state governments. The service offers immense diversity of work and officers are required to be administrators, investigators, quasi-judicial authorities, shrewd lawyers and tax policy makers right from the beginning of their careers. They are known as the Guardians of the Economic Frontiers and are deputed to law enforcement and intelligence organisations like the Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency,Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau etc. IRS officers are also serving at various consulates and embassies as diplomats and also in international organisations like World Bank, OECD and IMF. They also head the regulatory agencies like the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Competition Commission of India, SEBI etc. In the Income Tax and Customs Departments, IRS officers are charged with responsibility to identify the tax evasion modus operandi and are given statutory powers of search and seizure and arrest to combat the prevalent evasion. They also play a role in advising on tax policy matters by playing a significant role in framing or amending of statutes and frames regulations in relation to taxes. They also participate and negotiate treaties on behalf of the Government of India in the fiscal matters in both bilateral or multilateral forums such as OECD and Global Form on Transparency in Tax Matters.
Indian Revenue Service officers work in the unearthing of many scams in the country. Their tax assessment orders are taken as starting points for all fraud and economic offences investigations. Investigation conducted by the Revenue Service officers is used by other enforcement agencies in cases of corruption too. Efforts of Indian Revenue Service officers have resulted in earning huge sums of public money for the exchequer and also in catching many criminals. Starting with the Fodder Scam in 1995 case to the more recent Madhu Koda case in Jharkhand^[2] was result of co-ordinated efforts of Indian Revenue Service Officers and led to unearthed allegedly illegal investments and Hawala transactions of 2000 crore. The Mining scam in Karnataka was unearthed by GM Belagali and Sibichen K Mathew, both IRS officers. Recently, Indian Revenue Service officers at Income Tax Department were roped into look at various irregularities in allotment of 2G Spectrum Scandal^[3] and also in Disproportionate Assets cases in Andhra Pradesh,^[4] recent scam in Reebok India Ltd. Issues such as smuggling of precious natural resources, gold, arms, narcotics and drugs also come under the scanner of the Indian Revenue Service Officers and their intervention has played an important role in protecting social and economic fabric of the nation. IRS through the Income Tax Criminal Investigation Unit (CI), Investigation Wing and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have a combined taxation and law enforcement role. These collective skills make IRS officers experts at following financial transactions, analyzing key pieces of detailed financial information and putting together an otherwise confusing, jigsaw-type puzzle of financial transactions that outline expenditures, life-style changes and acquisition of assets.Discovering where the money came from and where it went is what IRSofficers do best.
Efforts of the Members of the Service also led to the recovery of black money worth 10,000 crore in last year alone in India . IRS officers man all important border postings and protect the country from smuggling and safeguard its economic borders. They undertake patrolling missions in high seas and also takes preventive operations against piracy and smuggling.^[5] Around 565 crore worth black money is brought into taxation from France alone.^[6] Further, During the conduct of the elections the service members are posted as expenditure observers and work under the Election Commission of India in ensuring proper and fair election process and role of the officers have won accolades from the Election Commission for arresting flow of black money in the elections.^[7] IRS officers are considered for grant of Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate for exceptionally meritorious service rendered at the risk of life and specially distinguished record of service on their achieving and maintaining excellence in the discharge of their duties. These awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day. This year 35 officers have been selected for grant of Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate for ‘Specially distinguished record of service’. These officers have exhibited exceptional commitment and devotion to duty on a sustained basis, while achieving the goals set for their organizations.
Newly created Directorate of Criminal Investigation under the Central Board of Direct Taxes collects and coordinates the intelligence gathering actions of the department and prosecutes tax offenders. IRS officers are also increasingly serving in the place of IAS and IPS officers in the various State, Central ministries and departments.^[8] With changing times however, more and more IRS officers are serving in departments and areas that used to exclusively be the forte of IAS officers. This widening of opportunities and exposure has made the IRS more attractive. Since there is no cadre system in this service you can expect to be posted anywhere in India and even your home state, which becomes a problem for many in the IAS or IPS. The tenures are also more stable with an average of 3 years unlike the other two services where one may not even complete a month and the average tenure is around a year or so.

Freedom to an IRS Officer

IRS officers are appointed by the President of India. The Constituent Assembly of India intended that the bureaucracy should be able to speak out freely, without fear of persecution or financial insecurity as an essential element in unifying the nation. The IRS officers are recruited by the Union government on the recommendation of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and posted primarily in the Income Tax & Customs and Central Excise Departments. Though there is relatively lesser political interference than in the IAS, IRS officers still come under a lot of political interference arising out of the unholy political class and business class nexus.

Staff shortages.

As of 2013, the IRS has a significant shortfall in employees. Since liberalization era in 1990s emphasis on governmental cost cutting has been the norm department has been facing shortages in officer and staff cadre. Approximately more than half of the junior officers and staff positions are lying vacant as on date. It was hoped that computerization would reduce the dependence on staff during 2001 restructuring of the department following desk officer system. Subsequently,unscientific promotion policies owing to pressure tactics  of the unions have resulted in creation of situation where staff with out any proper experience or qualification are promoted to supervisory ranks seriously jeopardizing the efficiency and service delivery and leaving huge vacancies at the investigation and assessment charges. There have been many instances where drivers have been promoted to the rank of Inspector of Income Tax which is a bedrock of the investigation mechanism for detecting tax evasion with out proper screening. While this indicates a democratic scenario where every competent worker can aspire to rise up in the hierarchy but no safeguards have been put in place to ensure merit of the promoted candidates. According to the Economic Times, Severe shortages may be negatively impacting the government's ability to scrutinise returns and catch instances of black money.

Murder of many officers.

Even though IRS officers have to deal with sensitive posting in their career they are not provided adequate security. Many IRS officers in the Customs and Income Tax Departments have been assassinated in the course of their investigations.