merrion street

• Today’s Exchequer Returns show that to end-April 2017 the Exchequer recorded a deficit of €2,537 million, compared to a deficit of €1,055 million in the same period last year (the difference year-on-year of €1,482 million is primarily due to the Exchequer benefiting from an early receipt of Central Bank surplus income of €1,795 million in April 2016 a similar distribution from the Central Bank is expected in May). When we exclude this transaction from the arithmetic the Exchequer position is showing a year-on-year improvement of €313 million.
• Total Tax Receipts on a cumulative basis to end-April 2017 increased by €68 million or 0.5% compared to the same period in 2016 but are slightly down (2.4%) on profile for 2017.
• Three of the big four taxes (see notes below), i.e. income tax, corporation tax and excise duties are down on profile. The Department did not change its 2017 Exchequer tax forecast in the SPU published yesterday and the overall performance in the year-to-date underpins this decision.
• Gross voted expenditure on public services and infrastructure is down 1.6% on profile but up 3.0% year-on-year.

Further information on Taxes:

• Income Tax receipts of €1,762 million were collected in April, which was 1.0% or €19m below monthly target. This represents a 0.8% or €14m increase compared to April 2016. The underperformance relates to number of the minor income tax components such as DIRT and Dividend Withholding Tax receipts. USC is slightly behind target, with the bulk of the underperformance relating to the January / February period. The Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance are continuing to examine why this might be the case.
• VAT receipts are up €602m or 14.5% in annual terms. The strong receipts are in line with positive retail sales, with overall core retail sales up 5.9% in Q1 of 2017.
• April is not a key month in terms of Corporation Tax and receipts of €67 million were collected in April, closing the month €47 million below profile. It is important to point out that corporation tax receipts can be “lumpy” and are highly concentrated around the key payments months of May, June and November, which account for over 60 per cent of the total receipts. 
• Excise duties finished the month €26m or 5.4% below target. In cumulative terms, excise duties of €1,740 million at end-April, were down €117 million (6.3%) against target. The under-performances is attributable across a broad range of excise components.