WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deficit

jumped nearly four-fold to $257 billion in October, a figure

inflated by several one-off factors, the Treasury Department

said on Wednesday but starting a new fiscal year with a big hole

that will be turned over to President-elect Donald Trump in

January.

The Treasury said the October deficit was up 287% from the

$67 billion deficit in October 2023, but calendar adjustments in

benefit payments had cut that month's deficit nearly in half.

A U.S. Treasury official also said that in October 2023, the

Treasury received about $75 billion in tax payments that had

been deferred by wildfires in California and other natural

disasters that year.

Without these adjustments, the official said the October

2024 deficit would have been about $47 billion, or 22% higher

than the prior October.

October federal receipts were down 19% or $77 billion to

$327 billion compared with October 2023, while October outlays

were up 24%, or $114 billion to $584 billion.

The budget results for October, the first month of the 2025

fiscal year, come after President Joe Biden's administration

turned in a full-year fiscal 2024 deficit of $1.83 trillion, the

largest outside the COVID-19 era.

Outlays for Social Security, Medicare and military spending

rose, but one bright spot was a $7 billion or 8% decline in the

Treasury's public debt service costs to $82 billion, the first

year-on-year decline since August 2023.