Anyone who has only been involved with tax since 2005 might not be aware that prior to that point, rather than there being one HM Revenue and Customs, there had been two departments – the Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise. Of the two departments, Customs & Excise always thought of itself as the senior service, in that, in the same way as the navy views the army, they had been set up long before income tax was even thought of, to levy Customs and Excise duties on imports coming over our shores – and fight off those who sought to evade duties by smuggling.
Source: mazars.com
