Officials said to be eager to look at practice of paying relatives who do not do the work
Accountancy Age, 04 Feb 2008
HM Revenue & Customs is said to be 'champing at the bit' to begin investigating MPs who employ family members.
According to The Daily Mail, HMRC suspects MPs are paying family members salaries that are not commensurate with work carried out in a bid to avoid tax as they are able to deduct monies paid to staff from their taxable income.
Such a move, an echo of the row over 'income shifting' in family companies, could see the MPs looked into, the paper said.
The Commons estimates committee is tonight expected to endorse plans to allow NAO auditors to scrutinise MPs expenses.
Labour minister Phil Hope is the latest MP to be embroiled in the scandal, after it was revealed he had employed both his son and daughter to work for him during vacations.
In an article with The Mail on Sunday, Derek Conway, the Conservative MP who came under fire for paying tens of thousands of pounds to his sons for research work, hinted that the practice was widespread, and insisted he had done nothing wrong.
'I know many MPs with family members who have different names registered so that they are not so obviously spotted,' he claimed in the interview.
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