merrion street

January 2018

An Exchequer surplus of €1,529 million was recorded In January 2018. This compares to a surplus of €1,470 million in the same period last year. This year-on-year improvement of €59 million was primarily due to increased tax revenues, which, to some extent, was offset by increases in voted and non-voted expenditure.

It is important to point out that as a result of the Water Services Act 2017, from 1 January 2018, Local Property Tax is now paid directly into the Local Government Fund (LGF), rather than being directed in the first instance to the Exchequer. Furthermore, Motor Tax receipts are now paid directly into the Exchequer instead of the LGF. Therefore, all tax revenue year-on-year comparisons are provided on a like-for-like basis with the exception of the Exchequer Statement and the Analytical Exchequer Statement in Appendices I and II respectively.

Tax revenues of €5,019 million were collected in January 2018, an increase of 4.9% or €236 million on January 2017. This year-on-year improvement was driven by strong performances across a range of tax-heads.

Overall, total net voted expenditure to end-January 2018, at €3,959 million, was up €140 million or 3.7% in year-on-year terms.

Combined receipts from non-tax revenue and capital receipts of €990 million were marginally up 1.1% (€11 million) year-on-year.

Non-voted expenditure was up year-on-year by 13.5% or €62 million. This is mainly due to a timing issue associated with the level of funds called up by the Commission budget.