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The UK public sector budget enjoyed a higher-than-expected surplus in January, thanks to record self-assessed tax receipts, according to the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.
UK public sector borrowing - excluding public sector banks - was in surplus by £5.4 billion last month.
This was well behind the £12.5 billion surplus of January 2022, but £5.0 billion larger than the Office for Budget Responsibility had forecast.
‘Each January, accrued receipts tend to be higher than in other months owing to receipts from self-assessed taxes, often leading to a public sector net surplus,’ ONS explained. The deadline for self-assessed tax payments in the UK is January 31.
Self-assessed income tax receipts were £21.9 billion in January, which was the highest figure for the month since monthly records began back in 1999. It was up from £16.4 billion a year before.
ONS said the self-assessed tax receipts were partially offset by the ‘substantial’ spending on energy support schemes, as well as a large one-off payment related to historic customs duties owed to the EU.
This was related to the UK’s ‘failure to prevent the undervaluation of customs duties on Chinese footwear and textile products while the UK was an EU member state,’ it explained.
The £2.3 billion owed has been settled in three payments in June 2022, and January and February 2023, ONS said.
In the fourth round of Energy Bills Support Scheme payments, the UK government paid out £1.9 billion to households. The scheme will come to an end in March.
In January, the interest payable on central government debt reached a record for the month at £6.7 billion. However, this was down substantially from £17.3 billion in December.
‘The recent high levels of debt interest payable are largely a result of higher inflation, with the interest payable on index-linked gilts rising in line with the retail prices index,’ ONS said.
Around £3.3 billion of the interest payable is due to the effect of inflation of index-linked gilt stock.
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