Main Results

Collection

Net receipts amounted to €34.24 billion, up €2.32 billion (7.3%) on the corresponding figure last year, but down €0.83 billion (2.4%) on the Budget estimate.
€7.9 billion was collected on behalf of other agencies (PRSI and Health Contributions €7.9 billion: Environmental Levy €16 million: Nursing Homes Ancillary State Support Scheme €1.4 million).
Debt available for collection in 2011 was €1,317 million, down €72 million (5.2%) on the 2010 figure. Debt available for collection as a percentage of total gross receipts was 2.72%, down from 2.92% last year.

Compliance

30 Court convictions for serious tax and duty evasion (16 for Tax offences and 14 for Customs and Excise offences), up from 13 in 2010. Eight custodial sentences, ranging from 7 to 36 months, imposed, with a further 15 custodial sentences suspended.
A total of 513 prosecutions were obtained for a range of summary offences, such as failure to produce books and records, cigarette smuggling, marked mineral oil and oil laundering infringements, VRT and excise licence offences. 32 custodial sentences were imposed of which 19 were suspended. Fines amounting to €1.17 million were also imposed.
1,083 convictions were secured and fines amounting to €2.6 million imposed for the non-filing of Income Tax, Corporation Tax and Relevant Contracts Tax returns.
18 cash forfeiture orders amounting to €1.46 million were granted by the Circuit Court. These related to seizures made in 2008 and 2009.
Drugs with a street value of €24.1 million were seized, up from €9.02 million last year.
€1.03 million of cash suspected to be linked to criminal activity was detained at ports and airports.
109.1 million cigarettes and 11,158kg of tobacco, valued at €46 million and €4 million respectively, were seized.
34,040 litres of alcohol was seized.
1,044,830 litres of illegally laundered fuel were seized and nine fuel-laundering plants were detected.
4,166 seizures of counterfeit goods valued at €9 million.
Audit activity yielded €440.5 million from 11,066 interventions. A further €81.3 million was yielded from 546,502 assurance checks.
The cumulative total from the major "legacy" investigation projects reached €2.63 billion, with €18.8 million collected in 2011. The yield from the investigation into Trusts and Offshore Structures in 2011 was €4.12 million, bringing the cumulative yield to €40.72 million.
Our 'Strategy On Combating the Illicit Tobacco Trade (2011-2013)' was published on the Revenue website in June 2011.
Tackling shadow economy activity is a key corporate priority. We focussed on sectors that have traditionally been susceptible to shadow activity, particularly cash businesses, from the hospitality sector to white-collar professions such as doctors, dentists, vets, accountants and solicitors.

Supporting Voluntary Compliance

By the end of 2011, a total of 642,808 customers had registered for our online PAYE anytime service, an increase of 27.4% on 2010. A total of 378,757 transactions were processed by the service during the year.
The number of payment transactions made via ROS increased by 35.6% to 975,105, while the value of those payments increased by 16% to €32.1 billion.
Our website, www.revenue.ie, received 18.2 million visits in 2011, an increase of 10.8% on the previous year.
A new electronic Relevant Contracts Tax system was developed during 2011 and introduced on 1 January 2012.
A new system for collecting the Universal Social Charge on a cumulative basis was also developed in 2011 and introduced on 1 January 2012.
Phase Three of the mandatory electronic filing project, which saw the extension of e-filing to all companies, partnerships and trusts, approximately 200,000 entities, was successfully completed.

Tax Reforms

Universal Social Charge introduced.
Provisions relating to the taxation of civil partners and cohabitants introduced.
Tax relief for start-up companies modified to boost employment.
Legislation relating to the introduction of a temporary stamp duty levy on pension fund assets put in place.
Pre-consolidation changes made of Excise law.

Efficiency and Effectiveness

The cost of administration as a % of Gross Receipts was 0.92%.
Total expenditure on training and development amounted to €6.74 million, representing 2.3% of payroll costs.
A total of 51 Revenue students graduated from the University of Limerick (UL) with 40 being awarded a BA (Hons.) in Applied Taxation and a further 11 students receiving a Diploma in Applied Taxation. To date, a total of 628 Revenue students have graduated via the UL programme.
In 2011, and for the fifth year running, Ireland was ranked the easiest country in the EU in which to pay business taxes, and the fifth easiest in the world (according to ‘Paying Taxes 2012 – The Global Picture’, a report by the World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers).

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