The former first minister received £120,000 through a ‘personal service company’ for his newspaper columns, book sales and media appearances, the Sunday Telegraph revealed.

The arrangement means Mr Salmond will pay corporation tax rather than income tax, until he takes money out of the company.

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The SNP MP said he was separating out his salary as an MP from his outside earnings and had “no purpose of tax avoidance or evasion”.

Mr Salmond added: “[I have] no intention of paying less tax – that is not the purpose of the company and indeed [I] will make sure that I do not.”

But an unnamed City accountant told the Telegraph: “The only reason to do this is to save tax. There is nothing Mr Salmond is getting commercial protection from. Why else would you do it?”

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “Only this time last year, the SNP said the wealthiest in society should not be able to avoid paying income tax.

“The SNP is good at preaching to others but not so good at putting it into practice – with the result that Mr Salmond has left himself open to charges of blatant hypocrisy.”