diff --git a/checkstyle/plugin.jelly b/checkstyle/plugin.jelly
index 1ddcb09d..e5a1e46c 100644
--- a/checkstyle/plugin.jelly
+++ b/checkstyle/plugin.jelly
@@ -168,6 +168,20 @@
 
       </ant:fileset>
 
+      <!-- run checkstyle on tests -->
+      <j:if test="${(unitTestSourcesPresent == 'true') and (context.getVariable('maven.checkstyle.check.tests'))}">
+        <ant:pathconvert property="testSrcSetString" pathSep="||||" 
+            refid="maven.test.compile.src.set"/>
+        <u:tokenize var="testDirs" delim="||||">${testSrcSetString}</u:tokenize>
+
+        <j:forEach var="testDir" items="${testDirs}">
+          <ant:fileset dir="${testDir}"
+              includes="${maven.checkstyle.includes}" 
+              excludes="${maven.checkstyle.excludes}"/>
+        </j:forEach>
+      </j:if>
+
+
       <ant:classpath>
           <ant:path refid="maven.dependency.classpath"/>
           <ant:pathelement path="${maven.build.dest}"/>
diff --git a/checkstyle/plugin.properties b/checkstyle/plugin.properties
index af997b20..15330ba7 100644
--- a/checkstyle/plugin.properties
+++ b/checkstyle/plugin.properties
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ maven.checkstyle.fail.on.violation = false
 maven.checkstyle.cache.file = ${maven.build.dir}/checkstyle-cachefile
 maven.checkstyle.format = sun
 maven.checkstyle.header.file = ${basedir}/LICENSE.txt
+maven.checkstyle.check.tests=true
 
 # If useFile is false then the checkstyle task will display violations
 # on stdout.
-maven.checkstyle.usefile = true
\ No newline at end of file
+maven.checkstyle.usefile = true
diff --git a/checkstyle/xdocs/changes.xml b/checkstyle/xdocs/changes.xml
index cbdc2fbe..aba78348 100644
--- a/checkstyle/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/checkstyle/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="3.0-SNAPSHOT" date="in SVN">
+      <action dev="carlos" type="add" issue="MPCHECKSTYLE-30">Ability to check test sources using property maven.checkstyle.check.tests</action>
       <action dev="carlos" type="add">Generate reports filtered by severity</action>
       <action dev="carlos" type="update">Support for Java5</action>
       <action dev="carlos" type="update">Upgraded to checkstyle 4.0</action>
diff --git a/checkstyle/xdocs/properties.xml b/checkstyle/xdocs/properties.xml
index e76ec612..2fd4097a 100644
--- a/checkstyle/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/checkstyle/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -51,6 +51,14 @@
             exclude any files.
           </td>
         </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.checkstyle.check.tests</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+            Whether to check test sources or not.
+            The default value is <code>true</code>.
+          </td>
+        </tr>
         <tr>
           <td>maven.checkstyle.format</td>
           <td>Yes</td>
