Some 120 staff in the Revenue Commissioners are to be reassigned to mobile task units, following a review of the service. Thirty seven mobile units are to be added to the Customs and Excise mobile units, which have been in operation since 1993. The new units will also target VAT fraud and illegal tobacco sales, according to a spokesman, and they will operate from unmarked cars working on intelligence gathered by Customs and Revenue officials.
"Basically they will be looking at the black economy where people are not trading normally and would not normally come to the attention of tax officials. These would be cases where there are no documents, books or records of accounts. They're the people they will be trying to bring into the tax net."
The spokesman said recruitment was underway and the new units will start operating, under the management of a Dublin-based office, around October, the spokesman said. The expanded service is expected to be funded from existing funds.
The staff will have full Revenue powers, including powers of arrest in certain circumstances. Ten of the units will be based in Dublin with the remaining 27 working from 12 other locations around the State. The Dublin centre will be staffed by 10 office-based staff who will "analyse the risk areas and define lucrative targets that are not already being covered".
"The new units will continue to be involved in the traditional Customs and Excise work of enforcing vehicle registration tax, preventing smuggling and detecting illegal use of rebated (green) diesel. Their new role however will involve all taxes and include supporting tax inspectors in tackling the black economy."
The new service will also work with other Revenue enforcement branches, including the Investigation Branch, the Special Enquiry Branch and the National Drugs Team.