Michael Noonan
Question:130 Mr. Noonan asked the Minister for Finance the reason for the shortfall of income tax in the January 2003 returns of taxation. [5456/03]
Written Answers - Tax Yield.
Exchequer income tax receipts for January 2003 were €712 million, down 10.4% compared with the €795 million received in the same month last year. The Revenue Commissioners' target for income tax for January 2003 was €785 million. Lower than expected receipts from deposit interest retention tax, DIRT, accounts for a large part of the shortfall on the Revenue Commissioners' target for income tax collection. DIRT receipts were €38 million below the amount expected though this was partly due to some payments not being received on time. PAYE receipts in January were only marginally less than the Revenue profile. I would stress, however, that January figures for any of the tax heads are not a reliable indicator of the likely trend for the rest of the year.
Question No. 131 answered with Question No. 126.