UK to crack down on off-payroll salaries to civil servants
24 May 2012
In the UK, around 2,400 of government employees may have avoided paying the full rate of income tax, according to the chief secretary to the treasury.
The tax arrangements for senior civil servants were reviewed after it came to light that one was paid £182,000 without deductions for tax or National Insurance.
Danny Alexander has come out with "tighter" rules for departments to clamp down on those on "off payroll" contracts, a move welcomed by Labour.
Speaking in the Commons, Alexander said there was "absolutely no place for tax avoidance in government".
"It's clear that off-payroll engagement without sufficient transparency has been endemic in the public sector for too many years," he said.
The scandal first surfaced in February with the BBC's Newsnight programme reporting on the special contract arrangements of the chief executive of the Student Loans Company, Ed Lester, discovered by investigative website Exaro News.
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