UK December Tax Figures Show Improvement

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

25 January 2012

The UK Exchequer raked in over 7% more in tax revenues in December, 2011 compared with the same period last year, according to the latest government figures.

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, document the health of the UK's Public Sector Finances in December, 2011. That month, the government received GBP42.2bn (USD65.7bn) in taxes - a 7.3% improvement on the GBP39.3bn collected in the same period last year. Taxes on production brought in GBP16.7bn, up GBP1.2bn on the previous year. Of this, GBP9bn was from value-added tax (VAT), representing a 13.9% improvement on the GBP7.9bn collected in December, 2010. December is the last month that year-on-year growth in accrued receipts will benefit from the rise in the standard rate of VAT to 20% at the start of 2011.

GBP14.4bn was generated by taxes on wealth and income, a 7.3% increase on the previous year. Income tax and capital gains tax brought in GBP11.4bn of this, up from GBP10.9bn. The Office of Budget Responsibility does note, however, that accrued income tax for December is largely an estimate at this stage and could be revised next month once January cash receipts are available. Corporation tax receipts also increased from GBP2.3bn to GBP2.8bn.

For the tax year so far, April to December, tax receipts reached GBP380.9bn, compared with GBP362.8bn in the same period in 2010. Taxes on production totalled GBP152bn, up 6.8%. Income and wealth taxes brought in GBP132.6bn, up 1.6%, with income tax showing a 1.7% increase and corporation tax a 0.4% rise. For the full year to December, 2011, tax receipts were worth GBP536.9bn. The figures show a 4.9% increase on the GBP511.9bn generated in the 2010 calendar year.

The public sector current budget was in deficit by GBP10.8bn in December 2011; this is a GBP2.5bn lower deficit than in December 2010.

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