Ireland collected a record 10.9 billion euros in corporate tax last year, representing almost one-fifth of the overall tax take and driving total receipts 2.4% ahead of target for 2019, the finance department said on Friday.

Corporate tax receipts have more than doubled since 2012, mainly boosted by Ireland's large cluster of multinational firms. They hit a fresh high of 10.4 billion euros last year that the department did not initially expect to top again.

Dublin expects corporate tax receipts to rise again in 2020 before plateauing and at some point falling as new global rules under consideration are introduced on how and where big internet companies pay tax.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said he wants to grow Ireland's budget surplus to offset that anticipated dip and confirmed earlier on Friday that Ireland likely ended 2019 with a budget surplus of 0.4% of gross domestic product.

Government spending was 0.4% ahead of forecast at the end of last year, the figures also showed. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie