The State earned €4.74 billion from tax revenue in September, which was €4m, or 0.1%, below target.
For the first nine months of the year the tax take was €35.2 billion, €212m (0.6%) behind target, however, it represents a 5.4% - or €1.8 billion - increase on the same period last year.
Expenditure for the year to September was 0.8% below expectation at €33.1 billion.
Overall for the first nine months of the year an Exchequer surplus of €2.34 billion was recorded, compared with a deficit of €25m for the same time frame last year.
The year-on-year improvement is largely down to the recent sale of just over 28% of the State's shareholding in AIB.
However, when one-off transactions are excluded, the underlying Exchequer position shows an annual improvement of €535m, which was mainly driven by higher tax revenues and lower interest costs.
Income tax receipts of €1.39 billion in September were 2.5% (€33m) above profile, and were 10.7% higher than they were for the same month last year.
Corporation tax was also ahead of target last month, with €742m collected (16% more than planned). For the year to September corporation tax receipts of €4.68 billion are 3.8% ahead of target.
Elsewhere, there was a monthly shortfall of 1.7%, or €8m, with regard to excise duties collected. Year-to-date excise receipts of €4.22 billion are 2.7% behind target.
Revenue from VAT in September, a VAT due month, were 6.2% below profile at €1.99 billion. This was mainly due to repayments. So far this year VAT receipts of €11 billion are broadly in line with expectation (-0.3%).
Commenting on the figures, Tax Partner with Grant Thornton Peter Vale said: "The figures for September itself are reasonably encouraging, with corporation tax in particular continuing to recover from a slow start to the year. Corporation tax receipts are now 12% ahead of the prior year.
"Corporation tax has been the stand out tax in terms of increased revenues in recent years, jumping 50% in 2015 alone.
"An increase in the transfer of valuable Intellectual Property (IP) to Ireland has been noted as one of the reasons for the upsurge in corporation tax receipts, with a suggestion that the rules around the tax deductibility of IP will be tweaked in the Budget next week, to allow for a smoothing of corporation tax receipts in future years.
"September was a relatively strong month for income tax receipts, although we are still not seeing a bounce in tax receipts commensurate with the strong employment data. However figures for the year are nonetheless 5% ahead of the same period last year.
"Despite a weak September for VAT, overall VAT receipts remain broadly on target and are well ahead of last year. While still unclear, it is looking less likely that there will be any movement in either the hospitality rate (upwards) or the VAT rate on construction services (downwards). No reduction in the VAT rate for the construction sector would be disappointing in so far as it could help alleviate supply side shortages on the housing front."
