UPDATE 1-Brazil's federal tax revenue hits record high in March, Q1

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By Jamie McGeever

BRASILIA, April 20 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal tax revenue hit a record high for the month of March, the revenue service said on Tuesday, another bumper month that suggests the economy may be withstanding the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic better than many had predicted.

Strong growth in corporate taxes and firms' social contributions on net profits accounted for much of the rise, although figures for March last year were already blighted by the onset of the pandemic.

The tax take last month was 137.9 billion reais ($25 billion), up 18.5% in real terms from a year ago, a record for that month since the data series began in 1994 and more than the 126.2 billion reais median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

It took the total tax take for the first three months of 2021 to 445.9 billion, up 5.6% in real terms from the first quarter of last year and also the highest since 1994, the revenue service said.

Corporate income taxes and company social contributions on profits in March totaled 24.6 billion reais, the revenue service said, up 44.8% in real terms from the same month last year.

Payments into the social contribution fund known as "PIS/Pasep" and the "Cofins" social security levy rose 27.8% in real terms to 29.5 billion reais in March, the revenue service said.

For the first quarter, corporate income taxes and company social contributions on profits rose 19.8% in real terms to 107.5 billion reais, and payments into "PIS/Pasep" and "Cofins" rose 7% to 87.8 billion reais, the revenue service said.

Brazil's public finances are under huge strain, with the government shouldering a record debt and facing another year of deep deficit as it is forced to keep spending to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

($1 = 5.5250 reais) (Reporting by Isabel Versiani and Jamie McGeever; Editing by Aurora Ellis)