There’s been a welcome boost to government finances with better than expected income tax receipts providing an extra £21.3m for the exchequer.

And agreement with the UK over the calculations for the island’s share of pooled VAT revenue has allowed £51.5m held in contingency to go back to reserves - on paper at least.

A break-down of public finances is outlined in the latest central government summary management accounts covering the full financial year 2024-25 which have just been published.

The unaudited end of year accounts show that all departments came in on budget, apart from the Department of Health and Social Care, which required a £15.3m supplementary vote that was approved at this month’s Tynwald sitting.

This overspend was needed to shore up Manx Care’s overspend.

Economic growth was as forecast with an increase in government income.

Income tax brought in £21.3m more than had been expected at the start of the year due to factors such as higher interest rates benefiting savers and the real growth in earnings.

With the successful finalisation of the FERSA calculations announced in March, there is now more certainty regarding income for the next five years and an accounting provision of £51.5m was able to be released back to reserves.

But the accounts note: ‘The provision release covers the full five-year period and is an accounting adjustment only - it does not represent any in-year cash movement.’

National Insurance income was above budget at the year-end by £13.3m, broken down into £6.9m of NI contributions and £6.4m one-off receipt for a prior year adjustment from the UK Department of Work and Pensions.

NI-funded benefits were over budget at the year-end, however, and particularly pensions which were £4m above budget.

Retirement pension payments came in £3.6m below budget but this was outweighed by Manx State Pension payments, which were £7.6m over budget for the full year.

Total employee costs were £1.727m under budget but still a whopping £689,453,000. Of this, £378,814,000 related to basic pay, which was £13.574m under budget.

Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson said: ‘The publication of the full-year summary management accounts is designed to provide transparency around how the government has performed against the budget over the previous financial year.

‘It is positive that income tax receipts are higher than expected and we continue to monitor this area to understand whether the increase will be restricted to this year or will be repeated in the future.’

He added: ‘These accounts demonstrate that while considerable challenges remain around funding the cost of healthcare - a position that’s not unique to the Isle of Man - government has achieved a stronger level of control over our expenditure.

‘And I’m pleased to report that greater monitoring and collaboration across the organisation has succeeded in ensuring all other departments are operating within their budgets.’

The central government summary management accounts, including both the full financial year and quarterly updates, are available to view and download at gov.im/categories/tax-vat-and-your-money/government-accounts/