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. 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. There is an offer in my area to lease an electric car for two years, to help test the electric charging infrastructure installed by the council. Can my company take advantage of the tax breaks if I lease the car?

A. No. If the lease for the car is in your personal name your company cannot claim the 100% capital allowances which are available for electric and low-emissions vehicles. If the car will be used for your business we can help you crunch the numbers to see if it would be worthwhile for your company to purchase or lease the car and claim the allowances. However, from 6 April 2015 there will be a tax charge for your personal use of the electric car.