A record €5 billion in corporation tax was collected in November, according to the latest Exchequer returns, the biggest monthly figure ever.
The tax take, underpinned by a booming multinational sector, means the Exchequer has already passed the Budget Day target of €21 billion in corporation tax for the full year.
It also represents a 56% increase on the amount taken in corporation tax in the same period of 2021.
Overall, tax revenues up to the end of November stood at just over €77.5 billion.
That is €15.2 billion, or 24.5%, higher than in the first 11 months of 2021. It is also €8.1 billion, or 11.7%, more than was forecast in Budget 2022.
All major tax categories were performing ahead of expectations, with income tax take hitting €28.26 billion in the period.
That is 15.6% higher year-on-year, and 4.2% ahead of target.
VAT take stood at €18.5 billion – up 22.1% in the year and 5.5% higher than expected.
However the tax take from Excise Duties fell below €5 billion, down 5.2% year-on-year and 2.4% behind expectations.
The Department of Finance said the fall reflected measures introduced by Government to counter the rising cost of living.
It also said the end-of-year surplus would also be impacted as December is the largest month for Government expenditure, and its fiscal accounts do not yet fully reflect its most recent cost of living measures.
At the end of November, the Exchequer had a surplus of €12.1 billion, compared to a deficit of €1.5 billion in the same period of last year.
That came as expenditure fell €4.1 billion year-on-year, in large part due to the unwinding of Covid-19 supports.
The Exchequer figures came as data from the Central Statistics Office showed the economy growing by 2.3% in the three months to the end of September.
However, when the impact of multinationals is excluded, the domestic economy shrank by 1.1%.
Article Source: Record level of corporation tax collected in November – Robert Shortt – RTE