Corporation tax revenues of €13.5bn already exceed haul for whole of last year

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe: The exchequer has so far collected €13.5bn in corporation tax receipts in the first 11 months of this year, which compares with the almost €12bn companies paid in profit taxes for the whole of last year, Department of Finance figures show

The Government continues to tap a bounty from corporation taxes with the profit taxes already exceeding the total haul from this single tax source for the whole of 2020, the latest exchequer returns show. 

The exchequer has so far collected €13.5bn in corporation tax receipts in the first 11 months of this year, which compares with the almost €12bn companies paid in profit taxes for the whole of last year, Department of Finance figures show.

Overall, the exchequer collected €11.3bn from all types of taxes in November, some €1.5bn more than was anticipated for the month. Cumulatively, the exchequer has collected €62.3bn for the first 11 months, some €5.3bn more than the budget sums had predicted.

The November figures mean corporation tax revenues continue to deliver outsized contributions to help the Government pay the bills since the onset of the Covid crisis last year. 

November and December are key months for corporates paying their tax bills. Last year, corporation taxes accounted for 21% of all the Government's tax revenues. That has heightened concerns the State is increasingly becoming dependent on the taxes collected from a handful of multinationals.        

The three other main tax sources – income, Vat, and, excise duties – also performed strongly in November.   

Boosted by the corporation tax receipts and helped by lower-than-anticipated spending, the exchequer deficit has so far shrunk to €4.9bn this year. At €74.7bn, gross spending for the 11 months was less than anticipated and only slightly higher than last year.