TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE TAX AVOIDANCE SCHEMES

That this House notes the scale of tax avoidance through travel and subsistence expenses schemes, often operated by temporary labour providers, which artificially classify part of a worker's pay as expenses, allowing the employer to save on tax, while failing to provide the worker with the benefit; is concerned that such schemes are often not lawful, can lead to a worker's taxable pay falling below the level of the national minimum wage and are estimated by HM Revenue and Customs to be costing the Exchequer 650 million in the financial year 2012-13; and calls on the Government to investigate systematically and in depth all companies known to be using these schemes, to grant HM Revenue and Customs the power and resources to enforce current legislation and to commit to amending legislation to ensure travel and subsistence tax avoidance schemes are not used in the future.