Q. I own several properties which I let out unfurnished, but they do contain carpets, curtains and white goods. I've been told I can no longer claim the cost of replacing those items against my rental income. Is that true?

A. For periods before 6 April 2013 HMRC permitted a deduction for the cost of renewing carpets, curtains and white goods in all let residential properties on a concessionary basis. That concession was withdrawn with effect from 6 April 2013. The new rules now state that a wear and tear allowance (10% of the net rents) that covers furnishings and similar items, can only be claimed for fully furnished properties.

Your properties don't count as fully furnished, even though they contain some white goods and carpets. HMRC will not accept claims for the cost of free-standing white goods in unfurnished residential properties. It will allow a deduction for the cost of replacing fixtures such as baths, toilets, integrated fitted ovens and hobs, as those costs can be classified as repairs. If you replace part of the fitted carpet you could claim that as a repair, but not the cost of putting new carpet down in the entire property.

Q. I was travelling abroad on business last month when I got terrible tooth ache. I sought emergency treatment at a local dentist and paid the bill using my company's debit card. Will I be taxed on the dentist's fee as a benefit in kind?

A. If the dental cost had been incurred while you were in the UK, it would have been a taxable benefit for you. But as you were working outside the UK at the time, your company can pick up the bill with no tax cost to you. The dental bill is also a valid deduction for the company as it forms part of the cost of sending you to work abroad for a short period.

Q. Private school fees are so expensive, can I get my company to pay the fees directly and save myself a bit of tax?

A. If the company pays a bill, such as the school fees, which you are personally liable to pay, the payment is treated for national insurance (NI) purposes, as if the company had paid it to you so the company must pay employers NI on top of the amount of the fee. However, it is a benefit in kind so it must be reported on the form P11D and the income tax you are due to pay will be included in your PAYE code for the next year. In the long run you don't save any tax or NI.

If your company contracts directly with the school to be the person responsible for paying the school fees, the tax position is slightly different. The payment must be treated as a benefit in kind and reported on your form P11D, and the company must pay class 1A NICs on the amount paid. You pay tax on the payment to the school, but not NICs.

Q. My personal service company is about take on an IT servicing contract in Belgium. The customer will pay me a rate for every day I attend their premises, on top of my fee for the whole contract. This 'per diem' rate is less than HMRC's benchmark rate for expenses when working in Belgium. Can it be paid directly to me personally or should it be paid to my personal service company?

A. The 'per diem' rate should be paid to your company and be included in its turnover for VAT purposes, so treat it as a gross receipt including VAT. Your company can pay you expenses for working abroad, at or below the HMRC agreed benchmark rates. Do not short circuit this by accepting the per diem rate straight into your personal bank account as this will create a VAT mess.

Q. I work as a self-employed courier for a large courier company who operates self-billing for VAT purposes and pays me monthly. I have just registered for VAT which has been back-dated to 1 May 2014. What should I do to collect the VAT due for May, June and July?

A. You should ask your customer if it is acceptable for you to issue a VAT only invoice to them. Calculate the VAT due as if the total amounts you have received in May to July under self-billing are the net amount of your fees for the period. You should also supply your customer with a copy of your VAT registration certificate, so the company knows to add VAT to your self-billing invoices in the future.

Q. In July 2011 I sold a property which had been used for my business. I planned to reinvest the proceeds in another property, but that acquisition never happened. I know I should now pay Capital Gains Tax on the gain made in July 2011. How do I go about doing that?

A. The period in which you should have reinvested the proceeds ran out in July 2014, so you do need to pay the CGT due for 2011/12 unless you get the tax inspector to agree to extend the period for reinvestment. He will only agree to an extension if you were prevented from reinvesting by circumstances beyond your control.

The disposal made in July 2011 should have been reported on your 2011/12 tax return as part of your provisional claim for roll-over relief. You should now write to the tax office to withdraw that provisional claim and declare the full taxable gain. The tax will be payable immediately and interest will run from 31 January 2013.

Q. I do some educational consultancy work in Africa for a business based in Ireland. My UK-based company will issue the invoice for that work, but it's in the flat rate scheme for VAT. Should that invoice be included in the turnover I apply the flat rate to?

A. The invoice your UK Company sends to Ireland for your work in Africa is outside the scope of VAT. You should not add VAT to that invoice, and you should exclude that invoice from the turnover used to calculate your flat rate payment of VAT for the quarter.

Q. I am thinking of selling a flat that has been let since I acquired it in 2012. I do not own another property. My tenant is moving out soon, after which I will either stay in it myself or sell it. Will I get lettings relief to reduce the capital gains tax (CGT) payable?

A. Lettings relief only applies if you have lived in the property as your main home for some period. So if your tenant moves out and you sell the property immediately you will not get lettings relief, or any relief from CGT, other than the annual exemption.

However, if you move into the property and make it your own home, the gain relating to your period of occupation will be free of CGT. The last 18 months of ownership will also be free of CGT even if you are not living in the property during that period. The total gain on sale can also be reduced by lettings relief, which is limited to the lowest of these three amounts:

- the part of the gain which is exempt because the property was your main home;
- the gain attributed to the period it was let; and
- £40,000.

There are thus large tax savings to be made by occupying the property as your main home, but you must show that you intended the property to be a permanent residence, not a temporary occupation while the property was on the market. It is the quality of occupation not the length of time that demonstrates the property was your main home.

Q. I run a small independent chemist which has three employees. I was told that my business would not qualify for the employment allowance as a good deal of our work involves dispensing NHS prescriptions. Is that true?

A. The initial guidance from HMRC appeared to indicate that pharmacies would not qualify for the employment allowance, which is worth up to £2000 per year. However, revised guidance from HMRC confirms that independent pharmacies that conducting a business, including over the counter sales as well as dispensing NHS prescriptions, are entitled to claim the employment allowance.

Q. I have just received my renewal pack for claiming working tax credits, but the income figure for 2013/14 doesn't agree with my P60 form and payslips from my employer - by a wide margin. What's gone wrong and what should I do?

A. The difference between the figures could be due to any of the following;

- Where you have more than one source of income (perhaps a redundancy payment from a previous employment) your tax credits renewal notice will show the total from all the sources that you received inc ome from in 2013/14.
- Your pay shown on the P60 may have been corrected at a later stage after the Tax Credits Office extracted the figures used for the renewal notice.
- Your income counted for tax credits includes the value of certain benefits in kind such as the provision of a company car, which isn't included in the amounts reported on the form P60 or on payslips. The value of those benefits will be reported on a form P11D which you should receive by 6 July.

If you believe the tax credits income figure for 2013/14 is wrong ring the number given in the renewal pack and report the correct figure.

Q. My father resigned as a director of our family business in March, and started to draw his pension, but he retained 15% of the shares in the company. It seems likely that company will be sold later this year. Will my father get entrepreneurs' relief on any the gain he makes on his shares?

A. Unfortunately not. To qualify for entrepreneurs' relief the shareholder must be an employee or officer (director or company secretary) for the full 12 months that ends with the sale of the shares, or the date the company ceases to trade. If you reappoint your father as a director (he doesn't have to get paid for that role) and then wait for 12 months before the sale, he should qualify for entrepreneurs' relief.

Q. My husband supports the IT and telecoms systems used by my company, which pays him £150 per week through the payroll for this work. Can the company also pay a small pension contribution on his behalf?

A. Yes your company can pay a pension contribution for your husband as he is an employee of the company, although as he earns less than the personal allowance (£10,000 per year) the company is not obliged to auto-enrol him in a pension scheme. The company can claim a tax deduction for his wages and pension contribution, as long as that total sum is not excessive for the work he does. You may want to get some comparable quotes for IT and telephone systems support to check you are paying a fair rate for the work he does.

Q. If my employer leases a car to me at the fair market value for such a lease, which I pay in full to the employing company, will I be taxed as if I had the use of a company car with no lease?

A. The law that taxes company cars was recently changed to ensure employees are always taxed on the provision of a company car, irrespective of how that car is provided. So although you lease the car from your employer you will still be subject to the benefit in kind charge, which is calculated as a percentage of the vehicle's list price when new. The percentage varies from 0% to 35% depending on the vehicle's CO2 emissions. Any amounts you pay to your employer for the personal use of the car reduce the benefit in kind charge, but you will not be better off using the leasing arrangement.

Q. If a director takes a £25,000 loan from his company and agrees to pay interest at say 3.5%, does this need to be declared on the company's tax return or on a form P11D?

A. This must be shown on the company's corporation return if it has not been repaid to the company within nine months of the end of the accounting year in which this was made. This will generate a corporation tax charge equivalent to 25% of the outstanding amount. The amount of interest paid on the loan is irrelevant for the corporation tax charge.

However, if the loan is made for a fixed period at a fixed interest rate which is equal to, or higher than, the official rate of interest (now 3.25%), there is no benefit in kind charge for the director personally, and no need to report this on the form P11D.

Q. Can my company make regular donations to charity and receive tax relief for those gifts?

A. Yes, if your company is making a profit it can make charitable donations and get relief against corporation tax. It should claim the total donations made in the accounting period on the corporation tax return for that period. However, the deduction of donations cannot change a taxable profit into a loss, or increase a taxable loss. In those cases there is no tax relief for the donations. Although, if your company is part of a group of companies, the relief for the excess donations may be passed to another member of the group.

The recipient charity cannot claim gift aid relief on the company's donation.

Q. I am a member of the APM (Association for Project Management) and my company pays my membership fees to the APM on my behalf. Does this payment have to be reported on the form P11D? If so, do I pay tax on the membership fee?

A. If your company does not already have a "dispensation" from reporting P11D business expenses for 2013/14 it could apply for one by 5 April 2014 using form P11DX or on the HMRC website. That dispensation will cover payment of the APM fees as the APM is on HMRC's approved list of professional bodies.

If the dispensation for 2013/14 is not acquired the APM fee should be reported on the form P11D for that tax year. You should then enter the P11D figures on your 2013/14 tax return and make a claim on the same return to set the APM membership fee against your taxable earnings. As a consequence of that claim on your tax return you should not pay tax on the membership fee.

Q. I've recently made a gain of £62,000 by selling the shares I acquired through EMI options issued by my employer. Does that big gain push me into a higher tax bracket for income tax? What tax should I expect to pay on the gain?

A. The gain made in 2013/14 by selling the shares you acquired through the EMI share option scheme should qualify for entrepreneurs' relief and thus be taxable at 10% after deducting your annual exemption of £10,900. However, entrepreneurs' relief will only apply if you were still employed by the company at the time you sold the shares, and the period between the grant of the share options and the date you sold the shares was at least 12 months.

The amount of the gain in 2013/14 will not affect the top rate of income tax you pay for that tax year.

Q. How do I go about claiming the £2,000 employment allowance?

A. From April 2014 most employers will be able to claim a £2,000 annual allowance to set against the employer's class 1 NICs due on their employees' wages. It will be easy to claim. All you need to do is a tick box on the first Employer Payment Summary (EPS) submitted for 2014/15. Your payroll software will show you how, or we can do that for you.

Once the claim is made it stays in place for all future tax years, until the PAYE scheme is closed or the Government withdraws the allowance. Only employers can claim the employment allowance. It can't be set against class 2 or 4 NICs paid by the self-employed.

For clients who take advantage of our payroll services we will be ensuring that the maximum amount of employment allowance available is claimed.

Q. I'm self-employed. How do I work out what to claim for motoring expenses in my accounts?

A. You can calculate your business-related motoring costs by either:

a) Take the proportion of business miles to total mileage driven in your vehicle in the year and apply that proportion to your total motoring costs for the year; or
b) Use the fixed expense of 45p per business mile for the first 10,000 miles driven in the year and 25p per mile for additional business miles in the year.

If you use method a) you can also claim capital allowances on the cost of your vehicle, restricted for the private use of that vehicle. If you use method b) you can't claim capital allowances for your vehicle but you can claim the interest amount of any finance lease used to purchase the vehicle. We can explain exactly what you can and cannot claim in your accounts for tax purposes.

Q. I've received a refund of the PPI premiums I paid on top of my mortgage. Do I need to declare this sum on my tax return?

A. The refund of payment protection insurance (PPI) premiums should not be included on your tax return as it is a repayment of a fee that you were incorrectly charged. However, the bank will have also paid you 8% interest on the PPI refund, and that interest should be declared on your tax return, just as if it was interest paid on a regular savings account. Some banks deducted 20% tax from the interest element of the refund, others did not, so you should check the documents you received with the refund to see if your payment had tax deducted from it or not.

Q. I've heard that I won't be able to reclaim the sick pay I pay to my employees from April. Is this true?

A. Unfortunately yes. Employers can currently recover statutory sick pay (SSP) as an off-set against PAYE due, if the SSP exceeds 13% of the class 1 NICs the employer pays over for the tax month. The excess SSP above the 13% threshold is the off-set amount. For SSP paid on and after 6 April 2014 no off-sets will be given. The SSP will be an absolute cost to the employer,although it is a legal requirement to pay SSP to eligible employees. In return the Government is going to provide more help to employees who have been off sick for 4 weeks or more, in the form of a "back to work plan".

Q. My investment property was let as furnished holiday accommodation until 31 August 2013. As I was not getting enough income as holiday lets I have let it on rolling six month tenancies from September onwards. How do I report the income? Should I split the year at 31 August, with the first five months treated as holiday lettings and the remaining period as normal property let?

A. For the property to qualify for the special tax reliefs due for furnished holiday lettings (FHL), it must qualify as FHL for the full 12 months. One of the conditions is that it must be available for holiday lettings for 210 days in the year. Your property was only available for holiday letting for 149 days, so it does not qualify for FHL for 2013/14. You should treat all of the income from the property as ordinary let property income in 2013/14. Assuming the property qualified as FHL in 2012/13, your FHL business is treated as ceasing on 5 April 2013. You may need to calculate closing balances for capital allowances at April 2013. We can help you with that.

Q. I work through my own personal service company. When I go abroad on business my customer normally pays for the cost of hotels and meals. Can I still claim the personal incidental expenses (PIE) from my own company?

A. Yes you can still claim the PIE, which is £10 per night for overseas trips, when you are abroad on business. The PIE is supposed to cover incidental expenses such as phone calls, newspapers and laundry, not the cost of hotel or meals.

Q. All my employees are entitled to a bonus for exceeding performance targets in 2013, including those who left before the end of the year. How should I report the bonus due to the former employees to HMRC, and do I have to deduct tax?

A. Under RTI you need to set the 'payment after leaving' indicator on the full payment submission (FPS) that includes the bonus payment to your former employee. Also on that FPS use the same payroll ID for that person as applied while they were an employee, and show the date the employee actually left. The year to date figures on the FPS should include the bonus payment as well as the previous pay and deductions for the former employee. When paying the bonus to a former employee you need to use the PAYE code 'OT' on a month 1 basis to deduct tax and NICs.

Q. I've got into a muddle over childcare vouchers. When I started the voucher scheme in 2012 all my employees were taxed at 20%, so they all received vouchers worth £55 per week. Now some are paying tax at 40%, but they are still all getting the full amount of tax-free vouchers. What should I do?

A. As an employer you are required to review all your employees' relevant earnings at the beginning of the tax year, and adjust the amount of tax free childcare vouchers for any employees who are expected to fall into the higher tax brackets. If at the time of that review it was not foreseen that some employees would be paying tax at 40% at some point later in the year, you are not required to adjust the amount of tax free childcare vouchers. The level of tax relief for the vouchers is set at the beginning of the tax year, or when the employee takes up employment with you in that year.

If your review of relevant earnings in April 2013 was incorrect, you may have given vouchers in excess of the tax free amount to some employees. In those cases the excess amounts should be reported on the P11D forms for those employees.

Q. I have four rental properties, and I have recently remortgaged one property to provide funds for my son's education. Can I set the professional fees and charges connected with this re-mortgage against my letting income?

A. Normally fees connected with obtaining finance for a business (including a lettings business) are allowable against the profits of that business, but in this case you didn't use the additional funds for the purposes of the business, but extracted them for your own use. Therefore the fees and charges connected with the new mortgage can't be set against your letting income.