Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Finance the tax receipts for each month of 2020 to date in view of the fact that it does not seem to be set out in the Fiscal Monitor April 2020; the tax profile for each of the 12 months; the same information broken down into each tax heading in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8719/20]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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116. To ask the Minister for Finance the taxation receipts that were expected for January, February, March and April 2020; the amount actually taken in as regards Table 1 in the fiscal monitor in April; the expected amount from taxation receipts in February 2020 as set out in the fiscal monitor in February; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9739/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 71 and 116 together.

The monthly tax receipts to end-April 2020 are available at my Department's databank at This information is presented in the tables for the Deputy's convenience. 

In ordinary circumstances, my Department produces monthly taxation profiles at the beginning of the year based on the previous Budget's taxation forecasts. Two factors contributed to the process differing in 2020. In the first instance, the forecasts in Budget 2020 were carried out on the assumption of a 'disorderly Brexit'. As this assumption became outdated, my Department published a high-level technical update as part of the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy published in January. From this technical update, the initial monthly profiles for tax receipts were derived.

Following this, due to the unprecedented Covid-19 situation, it was necessary to substantially update the monthly profile of expected tax receipts for 2020, which was carried out on the basis of the forecasts published in the Stability Programme Update 2020. These profiles take into account the actual Exchequer tax outturn until end-April and attempt to reflect the potential impact of the pandemic on receipts.

As such, there are no revised monthly taxation profiles for the months January to April. Furthermore, unallocated receipts are not profiled. These receipts are allocated to the appropriate tax headings by the Revenue Commissioners over the course of the year. The May Exchequer returns, and all subsequent publications, will include a comparison of the tax outturn to the revised profiles.

Table 1 displays tax receipts to end-April. The revised profiles for monthly taxation receipts are presented in Table 2. The previous profiles, which were based on the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy technical update, are presented in Table 3.

Table 1: monthly tax receipts to end-April 2020, € thousands 

Table 2: profile of monthly tax receipts to end-2020, € millions

Table 3: previous profiles of monthly tax receipts to end-2020, based on the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy, € millions