Eligibility Indian Revenue Service (IRS)

Officer grade - The two sources of entry to Indian Revenue Service are the officers directly recruited through Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC and officers promoted from Income Tax Officers (Class-II) grade.

To enter into a career as IRS officer / officer grade directly one has to pass the Civil Service Examination conducted by UPSC. The minimum qualification required for applying for CSE is graduation from a recognized university. Candidates, who have attained 21 years of age but not attained 30 years of age on August 1st of the year of examination, are eligible to apply.

Civil Service Examination is in two stages- preliminary and main. The preliminary examination (prelims) is the process through which candidates are short listed for the main written examination. Candidates qualifying the main (written) exam are called for personal interview. Based on the marks secured in the main (written) and interview, a merit list is drawn up, which determines the choice of service. The exam is usually held in the month of April.

Junior Grade – For junior level entry into the revenue service, one has to pass the Combined Graduate level Examination by the Staff Selection Commission. This is a less rigorous selection procedure as compared to the Civil Services Examination. Graduates of any discipline between 18 and 27 years are eligible to apply for this exam.

Eligibility for different job positions varies. In Customs & Central Excise and Income tax, eligibility for the posts of Customs officer / Income Tax Officer, Superintendent, Preventive officers/ Inspectors, Tax assistants, upper division Clerks etc is graduation in any discipline, and clearing UPSC and SSC Exams respectively. Plus two candidates can apply for the post of lower division clerks, and 7th class candidates with minimum 175.5 cm height and chest 80 cm can apply for the post of constables. Steno, typists etc need 10th pass. For some posts the board themselves conduct examinations for direct recruitment. The vacancies from time to time will be published in the employment news and leading newspapers.

History of Indian Revenu Service

Administration of income tax in India had begun as early as 1860. In the initial years, provincial governments administered this tax. The organizational history of the Income Tax Department starts from the year 1922, when the IncomeTax Act, 1922, gave specific nomenclature to various Income Tax authorities for the first time. In 1924, the Central Board of Revenue Act constituted a Central Board of Revenue -- the statutory body with functional responsibilities for the administration of the Income-Tax Act. Commissioners of Income Tax were appointed for each province and Assistant Commissioners and Income Tax Officers were placed under their control. Officers from the ICS manned top posts and the lower echelons were filled through promotions from the ranks. The Income Tax Service was established in 1944, which subsequently came to be known as Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax).

 

 The first batch of Income Tax Officers (Class-II) was directly recruited in the year 1944 through the 1943 examination conducted by the Federal Service Commission for IA&AS and Allied Services.

The recruitment of Income Tax Officers (Class-I) started in 1945 with the recruitment of 18 officers through the IA&AS and Allied Services Examination of 1944. The service was then known as Income Tax Officers (Class-I) Service.

After the Union Public Service Commission was constituted, the recruitment was done through the combined Civil Services Examination. In 1953, the Service was recognized as an independent Central Service and was named Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax).

In the initial years, the officers were recruited in four different ways: -

Officers directly recruited as I.T.O.Class-II) through the 1943 examination who got promoted to Class-I and were given weightage depending upon the evaluation by their Commissioners
Officers directly recruited to Class-I through the 1944 examination
Officers directly recruited as I.T.O.Class-II) through the 1943 examination and later selected to Class-I. Weightage was given to them also and their seniority vis-a-vis direct recruits was adjusted
Officers promoted to Class-I grade from the lower ranks

In 1957, some Income Tax Officers (Class-I) were also recruited on an ad-hoc basis by a competitive examination from amongst officers of armed forces and the Income Tax Officers, (Class-II).

With the passage of time, only two sources of entry to Indian Revenue Service remained- officers directly recruited through Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC and officers promoted from Income Tax Officers (Class-II) grade.

Induction training at the Academy is now imparted only to the directly recruited IRS officers. Other officers, including the ITOs, attend in-service courses at the Regional Training Institutes. 

IRS Officer – How to become an IRS Officer

IRS officer is the fourth most respected officer of Civil Services after the IAS’s, IPS’s and IFS’s. They are comprises of IRS (C&CE) and IRS (IT). IRS officers are concerned with the collection, administration and policy formation of direct (Income, Corporate, Wealth, FBT etc.) and indirect (Central Excise, Service Tax and even Customs Duty) taxes. These officers are the tax administrators of India. They are either under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) or the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance.

These are the officers who hold the responsibility of having a check on the proper collection of the revenue through taxes of the Governments whether Central or State which is a big source of income of the Governments concerned. It is the income which is used by the respective Governments for the welfare programmes to be implemented for the common people of the state. Thus one can say these officers are indirectly responsible for the proper functioning of the welfare schemes by generating requisite funds for them by way of collecting the revenue of the governments in effective manner thus making this profession a highly important one.

This profession not only provides self satisfaction to be at the very best, highly respected post in the Indian administrative system but also give you a chance to serve the society by taking head on some antisocial elements of the country.

But to reach at this coveted position one has to be really diligent and hardworking. To reach to that level one has to really toil hard for nearly 2 years and pass through a rigorous test involving written tests and interview spreading through out a year almost which requires self-discipline, patience, punctuality, commitment self-confidence and a burning desire to be at the top ladder of an important organization of the country. The is a kind of carrier which is ever demanding you can not get relaxed after getting the post infect you have to work harder after getting the job then before getting it.

To be an (IRS) officer is not a mean thing. If you enjoy power then you have also to accept the responsibility attached with the bound less power. To handle things effectively a lot of hard work, stamina, alertness of mind, adaptability to follow difficult time schedules, good team spirit is required as this is not a time bound job. This is a carrier in which you are not only supposed to work yourself only but you have to make your team to work hard for the society you have vowed to serve while joining this career.

Indian Revenue Service

This service deals with the matters concerning Income Tax. The members of this service, begin their career as Assistant Commissioners of Income Tax and may rise to the level of Chief Commissioners of Income Tax.
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 nad 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.
Officers of Indian Revenue Services (Income-tax) enter training at their academy at Nagpur. After training, they are posted as Assistant Commissioners either on assessment or other work.

While the main work of the department is assessment and recovery of direct taxes, the department has specialised branches dealing with investigation of tax evasion, statistics, and so on with the help of Assistant Directors (of the same rank as Assistant Commissioners of Income-tax). The Assistant Commissioners/ Deputy Directors, Communication Chief Commissioners become members of Central Board of Direct Taxes. The head of the department is the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, who is invariably a member of the Indian Revenue Services (Income-tax).