South Dorset MP Jim Knight put tax advice on his expenses (From Dorset Echo)

South Dorset MP Jim Knight put tax advice on his expenses

8:48am Wednesday 27th May 2009 in

By James Morton »

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SOUTH Dorset MP Jim Knight has insisted he sought tax advice from the husband of a Labour Party colleague in a bid to save the taxpayer money.

The schools minister was yesterday embroiled in the MPs’ expenses row following revelations about payments for tax advice.

Mr Knight, along with five other Labour MPs, reportedly paid Dennis Bates – husband of former foreign office minister Meg Munn – £345 for tax advice and claimed it on their office expenses, the Telegraph revealed.

But Mr Knight said he had used Mr Bates as his tax adviser on office matters since 2005 Mr Knight said: “In 2005 I changed accountants, having been paying £760-a-year.

“I decided to shop around to get a better deal and the following year Dennis charged me £345.

“If you had shopped around Weymouth I’m not sure you could have got a better deal than that.

“I was struck by the considerable saving I could make with Dennis.”

Each of the six Labour MPs were charged £345 in 2006-7 ‘for professional services in connection with your personal taxation affairs’.

But Mr Knight stressed he never used Mr Bates for personal taxation queries.

He added: “I have never asked Dennis for advice on minimising the amount of tax I pay.

“All he has ever done is make sure I pay the full amount of tax so I am beyond suspicion.

“It is categorically not the case that I employ someone at the taxpayer’s expense to help me avoid paying tax.”

Controversy also surrounded the fact that while businesses are specifically barred from claiming tax relief on accountancy costs, MPs are able to push them through the expenses system, thus avoiding paying tax on them.

Mr Knight conceded what he had done was ‘standard practice’ but that it was another glitch in the increasingly contentious system.

He said: “The test should always be to ensure we are not treated any differently.

“It is about consistency. People have said to me it is a case of what is reasonable and there is no question I have done anything underhand.

“But the public is very impatient to get these rules changed and I share their impatience.”

Also caught up in the tax expose yesterday were Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Foreign Office minister Gillian Merron, Local Government minister John Healey and Angela Smith, a former local government minister, and Meg Munn, Mr Bates’s wife.

It came just 24 hours after it was revealed cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Alistair Darling, had claimed more than £10,000 for accountancy advice.

Four of the MPs, including Mr Knight, issued a statement yesterday stating Mr Bates had worked for the Inland Revenue for 12 years and was ‘eminently qualified’ to provide advice.

Comments(20)

SnakeskinCowboy says...
9:31am Wed 27 May 09

The common sense expense law applies. "If it were your own money, would you spend it". I suspect here the answer would have been "no"...