Probe as income tax haul falls short

The Department of Finance is investigating the reasons for an unexpected drop in revenues it collects from income tax revenues as it issued its exchequer returns for taxes and spending in March.

The revenue drop is puzzling because PAYE, a major part of the overall income tax haul, increased from last year and has so far performed to expectations.

A smaller element of the tax, USC, has contributed around €60m less than anticipated for the first three months of 2017.