Expense claim MPs could face added tax burden
2 Jun 09
MPs who have been writing cheques and returning expenses because they fear for their jobs may also be liable for tax, according to Neil Whyte, tax partner at PKF
Whyte believes that the recent epidemic of altruism among MPs has seen many repay expenses they had claimed by mistake, so it seems likely that they had also taken a looser interpretation of the test than HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) would have.
Whyte says: “Given the apparent number of innocent errors made in claims for the tax exempt additional costs allowance, it seems likely that errors will have been made that lead to some taxable expenses being reimbursed.
“While it is very unlikely that HMRC will make any specific comment on this issue, I would hope that it has always taken the sort of keen interest in MPs’ reimbursed expenses that it does for private sector employees.”