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.