Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The question referred specifically to performance in the month of October. Corporation tax receipts finished the month €806 million ahead of target. A negative amount of €3 million had been profiled in respect of corporation tax receipts in October 2015 because the Revenue Commissioners had forecast repayments of approximately €200 million that would have offset the forecasted level of collection. However, these repayments, which had been identified to the Revenue Commissioners when the monthly profiles were being prepared, did not materialise as expected. This accounts for more than €200 million of the 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 while a number of payments totalling €200 million that had been expected in November and December were received in October.

In the year to date, performance in corporation tax receipts has been unexpectedly strong. At the end of October, cumulative receipts amounted to €2 billion or a little under 75% higher than expected and up to €1.8 billion or over 60% year-on-year. I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the over-performance is a result of a combination of reasons. For example, approximately half of the €2 billion surplus against profile is attributable to a small number of large multinational companies. The companies involved have advised the Revenue Commissioners that the strong performance in 2015 is primarily associated with improved trading conditions. There are also some positive currency effects but these are not substantial in overall terms. In addition, there are also timing factors. For example, as I have already stated, a number of payments profiled for November and December were received early and a number of large repayments that were scheduled for October are still outstanding. In addition, there were a number of one-off payments amounting to €170 million. As the Deputy may be aware, approximately 80% of corporation tax receipts are received from the multinational sector, with the top ten tax paying groups accounting for more than one third of total corporation tax receipts.

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