The €32.9bn collected is separate to the Apple back tax payment that was ordered by the European Court of Justice in September 2024. It resulted in €10.9bn being paid that year, and a further €1.726bn in 2025.
December was another strong month for corporation tax receipts, reflecting the buoyant performance of US pharma and tech companies here. A further €3.6bn was collected, up by €1bn on December 2024, again excluding the Apple money.
Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Tuesday, January 6
There is no immediate end to the corporation tax bonanza in sight, with many big multinationals moving to a 15pc rate this year due to a new OECD global framework. Orla Gavin, head of tax at KPMG, said: “This is projected to raise an additional €3bn for the Irish Exchequer in 2026 due to the increased 15pc Pillar Two rate.”
Overall tax revenues last year came in at €107.4bn, which was up by €8.6bn or 8.9pc on the previous year, when the Apple tax payment is excluded.
Income tax receipts were flat in December, but the total for the year came in at €36.6bn, which was €1.5bn ahead of 2024, a 4.3pc increase.
This suggests that the increase in wages more than offset the impact of a slight increase in unemployment in the second half of the year.
An even better performance under this tax head can be expected in 2026, under new Finance Minister Simon Harris, following the decision not to index the tax bands and credits in last October’s Budget. Almost 100,000 households will be paying more income tax this year, according to calculations by Revenue.
Some 23,000 taxpayer units – individuals or couples – who did not have a tax liability last year will have one in 2026 while an extra 76,400 taxpayer units will be hit by the higher rate of income tax.
Some €22.9bn in Vat was collected last year, up by just over 5pc on 2024. Motor tax, at €0.9bn, was flat year-on-year.
Government revenues were helped by overperformance of both capital gains tax, up by €0.4bn, and capital acquisitions tax, up by €0.3bn.
Peter Vale, tax partner at Grant Thornton Ireland, said the 25pc increase in capital gains tax last year was particularly noteworthy.
“There is clearly significant wealth being generated in the Irish economy, which is reflected in the strong Vat figures, up 5.1pc year on year. Consumers are continuing to spend, notwithstanding the geopolitical uncertainty,” he said.
Overall, a headline Exchequer surplus of €7.1bn was recorded in 2025. This compares to a surplus of €12.8bn the previous year, but that figure is heavily skewed by the Apple payment.
When that is excluded, an underlying surplus of €3.8bn was recorded in 2025, which was an improvement of €2bn year-on-year.
Total expenditure for the year was €126.2bn. Of this, €109.4bn was gross voted expenditure, the headline amount voted by the Oireachtas, which was €5.7bn or 5.5pc up on 2024.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council pointed out that while underlying revenue remains strong, spending is increasing at a fast pace, leading to large overruns.
“Spending in 2025 was €109.4bn, €3.9bn higher than forecast in Budget 2025,” it pointed out. “Current spending overran by €2.3bn, while capital spending was €1.6bn higher than forecast. Overruns were spread across most departments.”
Finance Minister Simon Harris said the figures showed that the economy saw strong employment growth and ongoing increase in consumer spending.
“When it comes to income tax receipts close the year, they were €36.6 billion. That’s up point €1.5 billion, or 4.3pc compared with the year earlier. So this points to strong, continued employment growth in the Irish economy, and also strong wage growth in the economy as well,” Mr Harris said.
“When we look at our VAT receipts, this amounted to €22.9 billion last year, an increase of €1.1 billion, or just over 5pc on the previous year. This also indicates an ongoing expansion of consumer spending in the Irish economy,” he added.
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