The Treasury's coffers improved last month as stronger economic growth and the housing market recovery helped boost tax revenues.
Stamp duty revenues surged by nearly half to more than £1bn in October to help knock nearly £200m off public sector borrowing compared to the same month last year.
The figure - excluding the distorting effect of bank bailouts - dropped from £8.24bn to £8.08bn, the Office for National Statistics said.
It meant that public sector net borrowing in the financial year to date - excluding the bailouts - stood at £64.8bn, down 8.2% on the same time last year.
Stamp duty revenues were up by £400 million to £1.2 billion amid a buoyant property market spurred by Government initiatives such as the Help to Buy scheme.
The take from income tax and capital gains tax rose 2.3% to £10.3bn but corporation tax fell 8.2% to £7.4bn.
Borrowing would have been lower but for the £331m cost of awarding 10% of Royal Mail shares to employees though the controversial privatisation knocked £2bn off net debt.
The UK's debt figure, excluding bailouts, stood at £1.21trn in October, equivalent to 75.4% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The figures represent the last set of official borrowing data before Chancellor George Osborne delivers his Autumn Statement next month.
It is widely expected the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will cut its forecast for 2013/14 borrowing from £120bn to possibly as low as £100bn - given the better-than-forecast improvements in the wider UK economy.
Samuel Tombs, of Capital Economics, said the borrowing figures were a "little disappointing" but still suggested the annual deficit was on course to come in about £15bn below the estimate set by the independent OBR.
He added: "With upward revisions to the OBR's forecasts for growth in GDP and tax receipts in future years also likely, the Chancellor certainly has some scope to fund a net giveaway during his Autumn Statement."
But the Treasury played down any expectations of an end to austerity.
A spokesman said: "Britain's hard work is paying off, the Government's long term economic plan is working, and the deficit is down by a third.
"But today's figures remind us that the job is far from done and a growing economy alone will not be enough to eliminate the deficit.
"The only way to ensure that the recovery is sustainable and the deficit keeps on coming down is to carry on taking difficult decisions to control government spending."
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