Should you provide any of your staff – directors included - with a company car? Good question. Why? What's the need?

According to some research I came across from B2 Group, only 40% of those SMEs they surveyed provided company cars (B2 Business Voice business to business tracking study).

SME owners should check that they – and their company car drivers - are paying the correct cost for their private mileage. Otherwise there is a risk of HMRC pursuing them for free fuel benefit.

The Advisory Fuel Rates (AFR) – a rate for repaying business mileage, or private mileage incurred in company cars - changed at the beginning of March, following HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recognition of the increasing cost of fuel.

SMEs with company car fleets need to advise their administrators and drivers that H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has updated its advisory fuel rates (AFR) for company cars with immediate effect from 01 March.

The new AFR rates, for all mileage undertaken from 01 March, in most cases sees the amount rate per mile rise by 1p per mile for petrol, diesel and LPG-fuelled company cars.

A parking fine means you are needlessly wasting money - as well as involving time-consuming paperwork. The PCN – or Penalty Charge Notice (that's a 'parking ticket' to you and me) - is often an inevitable consequence of client visits or business van deliveries: sometimes your meeting continues longer than anticipated; other times delivery drivers have little option but to make the drop and risk the ticket.