Main Results

Collection

Net receipts amounted to €33.28 billion, down €7.79 billion (19%) against the corresponding figure for 2008.
€9.39 billion was collected on behalf of other agencies. (PRSI and Health Contributions €9,207 million; Environmental Levy €24.1 million; Tobacco Levy €168 million).
Debt available for collection in 2009 was €1,443 million, up from €1,233 million in 2008. Debt available for collection as a percentage of total gross receipts was 2.8%, up from 2.1% in 2008.

Compliance

Total audit and assurance check activity yielded €670.3m from 373,718 interventions.
The cumulative total from the major 'legacy' investigation projects reached €2.58 billion in 2009, with an extra €96.75 million collected during the year.
An investigation into Trusts and Offshore Structures commenced in 2009. The end-year yield was €17.6 million from 94 cases.
15 Court convictions for serious tax and duty evasion were obtained. 6 cases related to serious tax evasion. In one instance, an individual was released on appeal after serving 4 months of a 20 month custodial sentence. 9 convictions were imposed for serious Customs & Excise offences, four involving custodial sentences.
45 avoidance schemes were under challenge at the end of 2009.
Drugs with an estimated street value of €39 million were seized and €1.35 million of suspected criminal cash was detained at ports and airports.
The number and value of cigarettes seized increased dramatically in 2009. In all, 218.5 million cigarettes valued at €92 million were seized. One operation, codenamed Samhna, involved the seizure of 120.3 million cigarettes, the largest ever such seizure in the history of the European Union.
1,171 seizures of tobacco were made with an estimated value of €3.7 million.
96,759 litres of alcohol and 283,817 litres of illegally laundered fuel were seized during the year.
1,019 seizures of counterfeit goods with an estimated value of €2.5 million were made. The items seized included DVD’s, medicines, sportswear and handbags.
1,951 cars were seized and €1,114,235 was paid in penalties in relation to Vehicle Registration Tax offences.
Our capacity to counter smuggling was enhanced during 2009 by the commissioning of a second Cutter, RCC Faire, and the deployment of a second mobile container X-ray scanner.
535 Customs and Excise prosecutions were obtained for a range of summary offences such as cigarette smuggling, marked mineral oil and oil laundering infringements and VRT offences.
1,083 convictions were secured, resulting in the imposition of fines totalling €2,182,091 for the non-filing of Income Tax, Corporation Tax and Relevant Contracts Tax Returns.

Customer Service

By the end of 2009, a total of 497,502 customers had registered for our on-line 'PAYE Anytime' service, an increase of over 55% on 2008. There were 669,617 transactions through the service in 2009, up almost 41% on the previous year. PAYE Anytime was enhanced to conform to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 - an internationally recognised benchmark of accessibility.
A new e-Stamping system was launched in December 2009. It enables practitioners to complete the stamping process in a fast and secure way via the Revenue On-Line Service (ROS).
Mandatory e-filing and e-paying were introduced for our largest companies and Government departments with effect from 1 January 2009.
While the number of payment transactions made via the Revenue On-line Service (ROS) fell by 2.25% to 638,786, the value of those payments increased by 17.5% to €25.5billion.
The 1890 telephone service for PAYE taxpayers was used by just over 2 million customers, with a call answering rate of 88%.
Revenue made 56,133 automatic refunds of tax with a value of €9.6 million in respect of non-reimbursed amounts paid for prescribed drugs.
At the end of the year there were 73,738 DIRT-free accounts in financial institutions for those permanently incapacitated and those aged 65 or over.
1,576 automatic refunds valued at almost €760,000 were made in 2009 in respect of tuition fees paid for approved third level college courses.
Two new taxes were successfully introduced: Income Levy and Air Travel Tax.

Efficiency and Effectiveness

The cost of administration as a percentage of Gross Receipts was 1.09%.
Total expenditure on training and development was €8.77 million, or 2.66% of Revenue's payroll costs.
In 2010, 23 Revenue staff were conferred with BA (Honours) in Applied Taxation and 76 were conferred with Diplomas in Applied Taxation by the University of Limerick. To date, a total of 373 Revenue students have been awarded with Diplomas in Applied Taxation, with 89 being awarded Degrees in the first three years of the Degree programme.
According to 'Paying Taxes 2010 – The Global Picture', a study published jointly by the World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ireland is the highest ranked EU Member State for ease of paying taxes.
In the course of 2009, 10 small Revenue offices were closed.
In February and March 2009, staff from the Cavan/Monaghan District relocated to the new M: TEK II building in Monaghan. It includes a new Revenue Information Office, including a Vehicle Registration Office. The building was officially opened by President McAleese on 2 June 2009.
A new Revenue office for staff of the Collector General's Division in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick was officially opened in April 2009. The relocation of 51 staff to the new offices marks the final chapter in the decentralisation of the Collector General's Division within the mid-west and completes Revenue's commitment to the Government decentralisation programme for the present.
Also in April 2009, a new Revenue office was officially opened at Geata na Cathrach, Fairgreen, Galway. The opening of this office facilitated the consolidation into one building of about 200 Galway-based staff from two Revenue Districts.

Contribution to Economic Development

Tax treaty network extended significantly: 7 new Treaties and 13 Tax Information Exchange Agreements concluded and signed; a further 6 Treaties concluded and awaiting signature.

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