Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes)

History

Recruitment

Training

National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes, and Narcotics

• Induction training of directly recruited Group A officers,
• Specialized and periodic training to in-service officers,
• Induction training to Group B and C officers,
• Training to state/union territory and other stake holders in the area of indirect taxation,
• Management and soft skills training for overall personal and professional development of officers,
• International cooperation and training activities in narcotics, customs and other allied areas,

Responsibilities

• Policy formulation: The taxation policies are dynamic and keep changing with the emerging needs of the economy and the country. The tax policy is not limited to raising of revenue. As a part of the overall policy of the government of India, the tax policy also serves as a tool to address several other objectives in the process of development of the country. These objectives may include providing for incentives and disincentives in the target areas/segments of the economy. Appropriate policy interventions in the direct tax are formulated by the IRS officers based upon the experience in the field formation and other relevant inputs from various sources and submitted to the government through the CBIC.
• Tax administrator, investigator, quasi-judicial authority and prosecutor: Majority of the officers are, therefore, involved in this function in some way or the other. The process of tax collection is mainly driven through the regime of voluntary compliance in which the tax payers have to pay their taxes as per the mandate of the law, following the procedure laid down including mandatory filing of returns of income or other specified statements. However, there is always a gap between the expected and the achieved level of compliance. Main reasons for the gap may include tax evasion through willful suppression of material facts/aggressive tax planning or mistakes committed by the tax payers. With a view to detect such aberrations and promote voluntary compliance, several interventions are done through selective scrutiny of returns/statements, surveys, search and seizure etc. In serious cases of defaults, criminal prosecutions are instituted after completing requisite investigation. In the process, the IRS officers discharge the functions of an investigator, quasi-judicial authority and prosecutor.
• Black money: One of the most important functions of IRS is detection and curbing black money in the country. While taking all possible measures in this regard domestically, IRS officers are also responsible to negotiate international agreements with other tax jurisdictions, to plug misuse of international financial processes for tax evasion and avoidance. India has been playing a prominent role, inter alia, in developing the new global standards on automatic exchange of information which would enable the tax authorities to receive information about taxpayers hiding their money in offshore financial centers and tax havens through multi-layered entities with non-transparent ownership, on an automatic basis.
• Serving other ministries/departments/organisations on deputation: IRS officers contribute to policy formulation, and make a final decision in certain matters, with the agreement of the minister concerned or the council of ministers, when posted at higher level in the government of India as a deputy secretary, director, joint secretary or–in rare cases–additional secretary.
• International bilateral and multilateral negotiations: IRS officers participate and negotiate treaties on behalf of the government of India in the fiscal matters in both bilateral or multilateral forums such as OECD, WTO, World Customs Organization, and the United Nations. They engage in international cooperation in the work areas of exchange of information, transfer pricing, taxation of cross-border transactions, and negotiation of free trade agreements.
• Anti-smuggling and narcotics control: Enforcement measures against illicit traffic under the various international conventions and protocols that are in force at present regarding narcotics control.
• Revenue intelligence: On the indirect tax side, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, i.e., DRI and Directorate General of GST Intelligence, i.e., DGGI are the agencies which are responsible for the collection of intelligence regarding evasion and smuggling of indirect taxes and also for prosecuting the offenders. A new system of e-way bill is also being rolled out under the GST to check evasion in the inter-state and intrastate goods transfer.

  Designations