Irish Revenues Improve

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

03 November 2010

Irish efforts to tackle the country's deficit appear to be paying off as revenues in respect of October continued the previous month’s year-on-year improvement, increasing 5% on those recorded in October 2009.

The Irish tax take remains 5.4% lower in the first ten months of the year compared to the same period in 2009, however.

Having declined significantly in the earlier months of 2010, in line with other taxes, income tax revenues of EUR1.26bn showed continued improvement, bringing receipts ever closer to the annual target, evidencing an improvement in employment and individuals’ remuneration in Ireland.

Corporation tax receipts also received an unexpected boost in October, totalling EUR434m, double that forecasted, and a significant improvement on that recorded last year.

The government’s statistics show that in the first ten months of the year, expenditure fell by EUR1.6bn on 2009. Debt servicing costs however increased markedly, by 25%, with Ireland’s double-digit deficit costing the Irish taxpayer EUR3.2bn in interest payments.

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