Section 292 — Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003: Accommodation expenses of MPs

Accommodation expenses of MPs 292 1 No liability to income tax arises in respect of a payment made to a member of the House of Commons under section 5(1) of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 if the payment is—

a expressed to be made in respect of accommodation expenses, or b related to or in consequence of a payment expressed to be so made. 2 “ Accommodation expenses ” means expenses necessarily incurred on overnight accommodation that is required for the performance of the member's parliamentary duties in or about the Palace of Westminster or the member's constituency.

3 But the cost of an overnight stay in a hotel that was required only because, on that night, the member had been required to be at the House of Commons because the House was sitting late does not count as accommodation expenses for the purposes of this section, unless the member had been required to be at the House because it was sitting beyond 1 a.m.

4 Subsection (1) does not apply to a loan for a deposit payable at the commencement of a tenancy.

5 The reference in subsection (1) to a payment made to a member of the House of Commons under section 5(1) of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 includes a payment made under that section to another person at the direction of a member (see section 6(7) of that Act).