Anuradha Mandal

Indian Revenue Services (IRS) is an All India examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the recruitment in the revenue department of the Government of India.

IRS is a Central Civil Service that works under the revenue department in the Union Ministry of Finance. The main function of the IRS is to collect and manage various direct and indirect taxes for the Union Government.

IRS comprises two branches :

1. IRS (Income Tax)
2. IRS (Customs & Central Excise)

Every year, UPSC conducts the Civil Service Examination(CSE) for more than 24 services, such as IAS, IPS, IFS, and IRS, by shortlisting the candidates.

More than nine lakh candidates register for the IAS exam and almost five lakh candidates appear for the examination. The selection process goes through several screenings starting with the preliminary exam, main examination, and interview.

IRS EXAM 

The UPSC generally releasees the date of the Civil Services Examinations notification in the month of February. Aspirants willing to appear for this All Indian Services along with other services can apply online by visiting the official website of UPSC.

Eligibility Criteria: IRS Exam

1. Nationality

The candidate must be a citizen of India to be eligible for the Indian Revenue Services (IRS) must be either of the following:

• Candidates must be a citizen of India
• Candidates must be a citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan.
• Candidates must be Tibetan refugees who came to India before January 1, 1962, for settling permanently in India.
• Candidates must a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Burma, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Myanmar, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Vietnam, Zaire with the motive to settle permanently in India.

2. Educational Qualification 

• Candidates must hold any Bachelor’s degree from any of the recognized universities. There is no minimum percentage required for graduation.
• Candidates who have appeared for the qualifying exam and are awaiting results are also eligible.
• Candidates with professional and technical qualifications by recognized universities or their equivalent are also eligible to apply

3. Age Limit & Number of Attempts 

A candidate should be a minimum of 21 years and a maximum of 32 years to appear for the Civil Service Examination. The maximum age mentioned above is relaxable for the following candidates :

1. Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST): 5 years
2. Other Backward Classes(OBC) : 3 Years
3. Defence Service Personnel : 3 years
4. Ex-servicemen and ECOs/SSCOs who have served at least 5 years in Military Service as of 1^st of August of the Notification Year: 5 years
5. Blind, Deaf-mute and physically handicapped person: 10 Years.

IRS Officer: Roles & Responsibility

• IRS officers are responsible for law enforcement and intelligence organization like the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
• IRS is responsible for identifying the tax evasion and bestowed with the power to seize the illegally accumulated wealth.
• To probe and expose scams inside the country.
• To protect the country’s smuggling and safeguard its economic borders.

Career Graph of IRS Officer

The highest position, an IRS officer can desire is the rank of Chairperson/Member of (CBDT/CDEC). The following is the career path of an IRS Officer :

• Compulsory three-month foundational Training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBNAA), Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.
• Customs & Excise officer undergoes 15-month training at National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN), Faridabad.
• Income tax officers are trained at the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT), Nagpur.

The indicative hierarchy is given below (Top to Below) 

• Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax
• Chief Commissioner of Income Tax
• Principal Commissioner of Income Tax
• Commissioner of Income Tax
• Additional Commissioner of Income Tax
• Joint Commissioner of Income Tax

IRS EXAM PATTERN

UPSC conducts exams in three stages as mentioned below.  The candidate has to clear all the 3 exams successfully to get the offer letter from Union Public Service Commission(UPSC)

1. Preliminary Test
2. Main Exam
3. Interview.

Stage One-Preliminary Test (400 Marks) 

• The Preliminary Exam consists of GS (General Studies) & CSAT( Civil Service Aptitude Test).
• Both the papers are objective type (Multiple Choice Questions)
• The question papers are set in Hindi and English language.
• Blind candidate gets an additional 20 minutes of time for both papers.
• Candidates appearing in the preliminary test must qualify for the cut-off score to get themselves eligible for the mains exam.
• There is a negative marking associated with the question asked in the exam.

Stage Two-Main Examination (2025 Marks)

• Candidates who qualify for the preliminary test are called for the Main Exam.
• Main exam consists of 9 papers.
• Paper A & B are qualifying in nature (Highlighted below)
• The candidate needs to obtain at least 25% in each of the Paper I to Paper VII to be given weightage to the Main Exam
• Paper A is not compulsory for the candidate belonging to the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim as well as the candidate from hearing impairment provided the fact that they have been exempted from such  2^nd or 3^rd language courses from their board or university.
• The language paper consists of the languages included in the 8^th schedule of the Constitution.
• All the paper is bilingual – Hindi & English except for the language papers.

The written exam consists of the following papers

The subject which is covered in the General Studies in Main Exam is mentioned below 

The list of the Optional Paper VI and VII of the Main Exam is enumerated below

Stage Three- Interview (275 Marks )

The candidate who qualifies for the mains exam is called for the interview process. This is the last and final stage of the recruitment cycle before the final results are declared. The maximum mark in the interview is 275 thus accruing the total marks in the merit list to be 2025.

UPSC board takes the interview which consists of the competent panelist, who would judge the candidature on the following ground :

• Mental Attentiveness
• Critical power of assimilation
• Clear and Logical Interpretation
• Balance of Judgement
• Ability of social solidarity and leadership
• Intelligent curiosity

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