168% surge in corporation tax in September

There was a 168% surge in corporation tax mostly paid by multinationals last month as the Government enters the final days of preparation for the Budget.

The increase was mainly due to foreign-owned corporations bringing forward payments of approximately €2 billion which were due to be made later this year.

It means payments later this year will be lower than expected.

The latest Exchequer Returns show €4.8 billion was paid in corporation tax last month compared to €1.8 billion in September of last year.

So far this year corporation tax payments were ahead of last year by 24% at €22.6 billion.

A number of other taxes were also performing strongly as the economy continues to grow.

Overall taxes were up 10.7% on last year when one off payments from Apple settling its tax case are excluded.

Income tax payments for the first nine months of the year were 7.8% up on last year at €27.7 billion.

VAT receipts so far this year were €20.4 billion a rise of 8.9% on 2025.

However, as the Government has cut excise tax on petrol and diesel the figures show payments for that tax category are €4.3 billion which is a drop of 8.4% on last year.

The Department of Finance has also published a White Paper which shows an estimate of tax and spending for this year and shows the Government will break its own spending ceiling for 2026.

Gross spending for this year will be €1.5 billion above the spending limit with half of the overspend caused by additional expenditure in the Department of Health which is over budget.

The Government has made no provision for the Christmas Bonus in its figures.

When it is announced on Budget Day it will also push the over spend higher by hundreds of millions of euro.

However, the Department of Finance's aggregate figure for taxes it expects to be collected this year is on track.

While the overall corporation tax figure will be slightly down for the full year of 2026, this is due to timing issues related to the introduction of a new 15% corporation tax rate and some payments will be made in 2027 instead.