Indian Revenue Service

The Indian Revenue Service (IRS) is one of the Premier Civil Services of India. IRS belongs to Group A Central Services of India. IRS comprises 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, Government of India. Selection is through the Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission through a three-stage combined selection process called the Civil Services Examination. The first stage, the Civil Services Examination(Preliminary) is composed of two objective exams: one of General studies and one of a subject of the candidate's choice amongst a given list of subjects.

The candidates can choose to be examined in about forty fields, from Civil Engineering and Medicine to Chinese Literature and Accountancy. This is purely an eliminatory stage and plays no part in the final rankings. About 5000-6000 of the applicants are selected for the next stage called the Civil Services Examination(Mains). The second stage is more exhaustive. It has nine papers of which two are qualificatory in nature. Candidates must choose two optional subjects of their choice, as compared to one in the Preliminary stage. There are two papers of General Studies, Optional 1 and Optional 2 and one Essay paper. Around 1200-1400 aspirants clear Mains and sit for the third stage, the Civil Services Examination(Interview) . Every candidate is asked to choose their preference of services before the interview. The entire selection process lasts fifteen to thirty two months. Repeated attempts are allowed (maximum of 4 times for general category,7 times for OBC and no limits for SC & ST).