Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 November 2015
85. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the reasons behind the €800 million increase in corporation tax received in October 2015; the sectors in the multinational area responsible for the increase; the amount each named sector has contributed to the increase; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39981/15]
View answerAs I outlined in my previous reply to the Deputy on 10 November 2015, a negative amount of €3 million was profiled in respect of corporation tax receipts in October 2015. The rationale for the minus €3 million was that repayments expected in October were anticipated to be slightly larger than forecast collection. These repayments had been identified to the Revenue Commissioners when the profiles were being produced. However, the repayments did not materialise as expected. This accounted for over €200 million of the very strong over-performance recorded in October.
In addition, there were also unexpected payments amounting to €350 million from a number of large companies due to better trading conditions and a number of early payments which, were expected in November and December, totalling €200 million.
Corporation tax receipts are highly concentrated in the multinational sector. Generally, the largest contributing sectors to corporation tax receipts are the Information, Communication and Technology sector and the Pharmaceutical sector. However, it is important to point out that strong performance recorded in corporation tax receipts this year is relatively broad based. For example, there has been an increase of over 20 per cent in the number of companies paying between €100,000 and €1 million. In addition, there has been an increase of over 20 per cent in the amount of tax paid by medium sized companies. Further data in respect of the breakdown of corporation tax receipts will be published as usual by the office of the Revenue Commissioners in 2016.
