THE UNIT of the Revenue Commissioners that deals with the tax affairs of the country’s wealthiest companies and individuals is losing about one-fifth of its staff through the Government’s early retirement scheme.

Some 50 of 258 Revenue officials in the Large Cases Division, or 20 per cent of the staff within the unit, are leaving under the Government’s incentivised scheme for early retirement, which is open to eligible civil and public servants aged 50 and over.

Some 322 Revenue officials have availed of the scheme, accounting for almost 40 per cent of civil servants who have signed up to the programme, making Revenue officials the largest beneficiaries of the programme.

A spokesman for the Revenue said it had a higher proportion of employees within the 55-65 age bracket, with about 30 per cent of staff over the age of 50.

“Proportionately, we are more likely to have a higher proportion of staff availing of early retirement schemes,” said the spokesman.

The large cases division has been affected more than many divisions within the Revenue due to the relatively high ratio of “more senior officials”, he said.

“We have put in place a strategy of reassignment and redeployment to deal with the reallocation of the work of that division.

“We are confident that the division as reorganised will be more than capable of dealing with its workload.” The large cases division monitors the affairs of companies with a turnover of more than €130 million and individuals with a net worth of more than €50 million.

There is mounting expectation that the Government may seek to limit the amount that an individual can take as a tax-free lump sum at retirement, with the balance subject to tax at the standard rate.

This would follow a recommendation from the Commission on Taxation advising the Government to cap at €200,000 all lump sums received at retirement, and to tax the balance of the sum at the standard rate.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said that by mid-November, 818 civil servants and 167 public servants had been approved for early retirement.

The second highest number of applicants approved under the scheme came from the Department of Justice, where 106 are availing of it, followed by the Department of Social and Family Affairs with 75 and the Department of Agriculture with 51. Redundancy payments were exempted from higher income levy rates by Mr Lenihan in the emergency budget last April.