Maria Miller redesignated her second house as her main home after parliamentary rule changes meant she would need to pay tax when it was sold, according to reports.
The Daily Telegraph claims documents show Mrs Miller stopped claiming expenses on her "second" home in south London after being asked to sign a declaration confirming that she would pay capital gains tax when it was sold.
But Mrs Miller's office has hit back, saying the newspaper's report is "factually and chronologically untrue" and she had not made the changes in order to avoid paying the tax on a sale.
The fresh questions emerged as Lord Tebbit became the most senior Conservative to call for the Culture Secretary to go after a weekend of mounting pressure.
The Tory grandee said her "arrogant" handling of the scandal had revived voter anger over MPs' expenses.
On Sunday the head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority Sir Ian Kennedy said it was wrong that MPs should police their own expenses and politicians should no longer be able to "mark their own homework".
Sir Ian, who has fallen out with MPs over changes to the expenses system, has now been told by House of Commons speaker has been told he must reapply for his own job at the head of the watchdog.
John Mann, the Labour MP whose complaint sparked the commissioner's investigation into Mrs Miller's claims, has asked Commons Speaker John Bercow to grant an urgent question on reform of the Standards Committee on Monday.
He said: "Public trust in Parliament and in the expenses system has now completely eroded, and we need a new, transparent regulatory system."
Mrs Miller issued a 32-second apology to the House of Commons on Thursday and agreed to repay £5,800 in expenses wrongly claimed for a second home in Wimbledon, southwest London.
However, it emerged the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson, had originally ruled she should repay £45,000 because of mortgage changes, but been over-ruled by the Standards Committee, made up of 10 MPs and three independent members, who have no vote.
The scandal has led to increasing calls for both Mrs Miller's resignation and an end to the system that allows MPs to rule on their own expenses misdemeanours.
However, the Prime Minister continues to insist Mrs Miller, one of his few women cabinet members, has his "full confidence" and over the weekend both the Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith and Tory chairman Grant Shapps defended her.
Mr Shapps told Sky News' Murnaghan programme Mrs Miller should be "allowed to get on with her job" and added: "Maria Miller is a very, very hard-working minister."
Mrs Miller bought her Wimbledon property in 1996, before she became an MP, and sold it in February this year for a profit of £1.2m.
Between 2005 and 2009, she told the House of Commons it was her second home, allowing her to claim public money to pay the mortgage on it.
The initial complaint against her was that she should not have been able to claim because her parents were living in the house. She was cleared because she was carer for her disabled parents and lived their with them.
However, there are now new questions over changes she made in 2009 when she stopped claiming expenses on the house, redesignating it as her main home with parliamentary authorities.
Under new rules introduced after the expenses scandal that year MPs were told they could no longer escape tax on the sale of second homes. Capital gains tax of 28% is only payable on the sale of second homes.
Mrs Miller now faces questions about what she will tell HMRC about the status of the house between 2005 and 2009 when the new financial tax year begins because she sold the home.
But a spokesman for Mrs Miller said she would comply with HMRC when the matter arises and denied that it had been a move to sidestep the tax ramifications.
He said: "It is well documented that Maria stopped claiming any accommodation allowance at all in 2009. The sale of the Wimbledon property in Feburary, falls in a tax year that has not yet been assessed.
"She will of course deal with the matter in accordance with HMRC rules and pay any tax that is due."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/maria-miller-faces-fresh-expenses-questions-001324103.html
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