Launch of Revenue’s ‘Introduction to Tax’ module

On 19 October 2023, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Irish tax and customs) launched an ‘Introduction to Tax’ education module for students in Transition Year. Transition Year is the first year of the senior cycle (final three years) in Ireland’s education system with students typically aged between 15 – 16 years old.

The module consists of eight stand-alone but complementary units of learning that cover key tax-related topics, such as:

• where tax money goes and the benefits for the public;
• how taxes are made;
• how employee taxes are calculated;
• how to use Revenue’s online services;
• self-employed tax obligations;
• basic overview of customs rules and the work of our customs teams;
• introduction to the shadow economy, and Revenue’s compliance activities.

The materials within each of the units consists of PowerPoint presentations, exercise and answer sheets, a learning journal, and any required handouts. Additionally, there are videos, animations, and interactive elements (PDF scenarios, Kahoot! quizzes) within some modules to help supplement student learning. All materials required for delivery of the module are available to download from the Revenue website and are free to use by teachers in the classroom. The materials are available for teaching in English and Irish.

The module provides materials for up to 16 hours of class time across all 8 units. However, teachers have flexibility to adapt the resources to the needs, abilities, and interests of their students. Once a student has completed at least 3 of the 8 units within the module, they can receive a Certificate of Completion from Revenue. 

As part of the design stage, Revenue (Irish tax and customs) worked closely with an educational consultant to ensure that the module provides cross-curricular links within the current junior and senior education cycles and a graphics designer to ensure that the module is age appropriate and visually attractive to the targeted age range. 

In addition to the ‘Introduction to Tax’ module, Revenue have also developed an activity poster in association with OIDE, a professional development organisation for teachers in Ireland. The Tax in Action poster provides tax-based activities for Junior Cycle students between 12 to 15 years old. The activities encourage students to explore the role of tax in society. 

(Left to right): Eamon Devaney, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness, Kathryn Hynes (Unit Manager) and Anita Mulligan at the launch of Revenue’s Transition Year ‘Introduction to Tax’ module on 7 October. 

The launch of the ‘Introduction to Tax’ module is timely as the module meets many of the tax-related competencies within the newly launchedjoint financial competence framework for children and youth developed by the EU and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The module meets 12 key tax-related competencies under the content areas Financial Landscape, Money and Transactions and Planning and Managing Finances within this new framework.