A rise in self-assessment and capital gains tax receipts gave the UK’s public finances a £15.4bn lift in January.

The smaller than expected surplus is still the highest since records began in 1993 and gives Rachel Reeves a shot in the arm after December’s slump, when the public finances recorded a £17.8bn deficit – £10.1bn more than in the same month a year earlier.

City economists and the government’s independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, had expected last month’s figure to show a surplus of £20bn.

Increases in capital gains tax on the sale of business assets, due to take effect in April, are expected to continue bringing forward receipts as company owners seek to beat the deadline.

The Office for National Statistics said that taken together, self-assessed income and capital gains tax receipts were provisionally estimated at £36.2bn in January 2025, £3.8bn more than a year earlier, and the highest January receipts since monthly records began in 1999.

However, the self-assessment haul was £3bn lower than had been forecast, while the CGT take was £1.1bn under the prediction.

The chancellor usually enjoys a spending surplus in the first month of the year, which coincides with the deadline for self-assessment returns.

The boost usually extends into February, when millions of tax returns that are filed at the last minute are counted by HMRC.

More details soon …