The Irish Revenue said today that drugs with a street value of over €152m were seized and 135.2 million cigarettes valued at €54.4m were confiscated in 2008. According to its annual report for 2008, there was a 50% increase in serious tax evasion, with 15 cases. In total last year there were 20 court convictions for serious tax and duty evasion.

Josephine Feehily, Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, today launched the report.

The most significant developments for Revenue in 2009 were:

• Net receipts amounted to €41.1 billion, down €6.43 billion against the corresponding figure for 2007, and €8 billion below the Budget estimate.
• Debt available for collection in 2008 was €1,233m, up from €895m in 2007. Debt available for collection as a percentage of total gross receipts was 2.1%, up from 1.4% in 2007, still one of the lowest such ratios of any tax administration worldwide.
• Total audit and assurance check activity yielded €632.3m from 360,859 interventions.
• The cumulative total from the major 'legacy' investigation projects reached €2.48 billion in 2008, with an extra €75.64 million collected during the year.
• A Voluntary Disclosure scheme for persons holding untaxed funds, amounting to €100,000 or more, in banks, building societies, credit unions and Post Office Savings Bank accounts, yielded €73.8 million to date.
• Twenty court convictions for serious tax and duty evasion were obtained. Fifteen cases related to serious tax evasion, a 50% increase on 2007. In one case, a three-year custodial sentence suspended to six months imprisonment was imposed. Five convictions were imposed for serious Customs & Excise offences.
• Drugs with a street value of over €152 million were seized and almost €3.5 million of suspected criminal cash was detained at ports and airports.
• 135.2 million cigarettes valued at €54.4 million and 3.08 kgs of tobacco with a value of €1.1million were seized. 6.38 million cigarettes were seized from markets, shops and other premises.
• The 1890 telephone service was used by 2.8 million customers, with a call answering rate of almost 90%.
• Electronic returns and declarations increased by 9%. The rate of electronic submission for Customs declarations reached 99%.
• A new registration process for the online service for PAYE taxpayers called 'PAYE anytime ' was launched in September 2008. By the end of the year some 320,000 customers had successfully registered. There were 475,671 transactions in 2008, an increase of 77% on 2007.
• The transition to a C02 emissions system of charging Vehicle Registration Tax was successfully implemented from 1 July 2008.
• The cost of administration as a percentage of Gross Receipts was 0.96%. This figure compares very favourably with Tax and Customs administrations worldwide.

Speaking today, Ms Feehily said: "2008 was a year of great challenge for Ireland and indeed for Revenue. Despite the downturn in the economy our volumes of business increased under many headings. We were called upon to and Finance Acts. We are currently preparing for our third Finance Bill in a little over twelve months and putting systems in place to implement the Supplementary Budget changes.

"It is also clear, in the context of Government policy on public expenditure that we must reduce our operating costs while still delivering key business programmes. Revenue, in partnership with staff and Unions, has been developing and modernising itself. We have invested sensibly in technology and in skills. We believe that these, with the support of our staff, have equipped Revenue to carry on being a high performing organisation and to deliver on our Mission of Service to the Community".