Government tax receipts have dropped by £67bn or just over 10% in the year to February 2021, say leading tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg

Heather Self a partner at the firm said: “The biggest part of this is VAT at £45bn, most of which will be a timing difference as payments deferred early in lockdown will gradually be made over the next few months.

She added: More fundamentally, corporate tax receipts are down by £7.8bn or over 13.5%, with total receipts for the year below £50bn. This highlights the extent of the business slowdown as many companies have struggled to survive during the long lockdown periods.

Heather said: “ March is normally a bumper month for CT receipts, with the largest companies paying their first quarterly instalment for the year. In March 2020 – before the full impact of the pandemic was apparent – receipts were £6.5bn. We would expect March 2021 to be at least £2bn lower than this, and perhaps more.”