Back in December, Simon Burns, the health minister, gave assurances that no civil servants were paid via personal service companies and that such an arrangement would be against the department's policy anyhow. This was in a written parliamentary answer to a question posed by shadow Cabinet Office minister, Gareth Thomas. 'The Guardian' newspaper has however discovered the real truth causing the Department of Health to issue an apology for being unintentionally misleading and clarifying “that no civil servant who is an employee of the Department of Health is paid in this way.”

'The Telegraph' has discovered that the public face and voice of HMRC's self assessment advertising campaign, Moira Stuart, has been exploiting her services through her own company, Moira Stuart Ltd since 1st April 2010.

Moira Stuart Ltd's first accounts to 31st March 2011 show income of £22,607 and after deducting administrative expenses of £1,749 the company paid corporation tax of £4,380 at a rate of 21%.  Had she received the money as a salary she would have paid tax of up to £11,303, at the rate of 50%, as well as suffering NIC.

According to top twenty accountancy firm, UHY Hacker Young, the amount of corporation tax refunds issued by HMRC has doubled over five years from £4.7 billion to £9 billion, representing a hike of 91% in the five years to 31st March 2010.

In the year to 31st March 2010, the average repayment claim rose from £17,683 in the previous year to £25,259, representing an increase of 43%.