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. 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 am a non-executive director of a number of companies. Can I offer consultancy services to those companies on a self-employed basis?

A. You can offer your services to those companies on a self-employed basis, but you need to have a clear contract which distinguishes your work as a consultant from work you do as a director. The self-employed tasks need to be invoiced separately and declared to HMRC as a separate business from your fees as a director.

Generally the fees for work you perform as a director should be taxed under PAYE. Legislation introduced in the Finance Act 2013 requires the IR35 provisions to apply to work done as officers where that work is charged through a third party, such as a personal service company.