Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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371. To ask the Minister for Finance when his Department will publish its analysis of the reason corporation tax receipts increased by €2.3 billion above forecasts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26418/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Corporation tax receipts in Ireland are highly concentrated with a high proportion of receipts coming from the multinational sector.  The Revenue Commissioners have advised that about half of the €2.3 billion increase in Corporation Tax receipts is from a small number of large multinationals and is attributable to a variety of reasons including improved trading conditions, positive currency fluctuations, some timing factors and a number of one-off payments.

In order to get a better understanding of the increase in Corporation Tax receipts, Revenue analysed tax return and payment data for 2014 and 2015.  Although most of the returns for 2015 will not be filed until later this year, Revenue looked at the payments data to see if there were indications of any trends.  The Revenue analysis of the increase in Corporation Tax receipts ) showed that the main factor driving increased receipts in 2015 is likely to be profitability. 

Although Corporation Tax is concentrated in the multinationals sector, it is fair to say that the basis for the additional Corporation Tax being paid is relatively broad based with improved receipts across a number of different sectors and sized firms, including indigenous ones.  This was also evidenced in the Revenue report which showed that payments from indigenous companies were growing at a similar rate to the payments from multinationals albeit at lower monetary levels. 

I would point out that the majority of 2015 Corporation Tax returns are due to be filed later this year and I would fully expect that these returns will substantiate the advice received from the Revenue Commissioners.