paying income tax for your work cell phone?

[JDub02]

WASHINGTON -- The IRS is weighing a proposal to deem one-quarter of employees' use of work cell phones as personal use and therefore subject to tax as a fringe benefit.

The proposal is one of several options the IRS put forward this week on the tax treatment of employer-provided cell phones. Current law already requires that the value of those cell phone services be included in a worker's gross income, unless the employee keeps detailed records showing that the cell phone is used for work only -- an idea cell phone trade groups are objecting to.

"The idea that you should keep a log saying, 'I made a call saying I will be late for dinner again,' that's a totally cumbersome and burdensome requirement that most employers and employees are not going to comply with," said Jot Carpenter, vice president of government affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association.

The IRS, in a Monday notice, proposed options intended to simplify the requirement for employers. One proposal is a "safe harbor" that would deem 75 percent of work cell phone usage to be for work, and 25 percent to be personal. Under that scenario, employer deductions would be limited accordingly and employees would be taxed on the value of the personal use.

Link

I don't keep a log of my work cell. I haven't noticed anything regarding the cell on my pay stub.

The moment I have to pay income tax on my work cell is the moment that either
1) I give it back or
2) it becomes my new personal cell phone and I get rid of my personal account.

 

[JS80]

Hope and change bro

in other news 75% of business cell phones were canceled due to a movement by corporations to just reimburse employees' private lines. Sprint, AT&T and Verizon all go bankrupt.

 

[slsmnaz]

sounds similar to what they make you report for a company car. Even the ride to and from work must be recorded as personal miles

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: JS80
Hope and change bro

in other news 75% of business cell phones were canceled due to a movement by corporations to just reimburse employees' private lines. Sprint, AT&T and Verizon all go bankrupt.

What are you talking about if it's an existing law?

 

[CPA]

Last year my company was audited by the IRS for this among other things. I believe we agreed to a 20% ratio as the IRS had no set standard for the percentage OR the process in which to determine personal use. We were pretty much a guinea pig for them.

Oh, and Blackberries are next.

 

[Pheran]

At my workplace we just had to completely change the way cell phones are done because of the IRS. It used to be that work payed the bill and I didn't even have to see it, now I have to have my own personal cell and the add a taxable amount to my paycheck as reimbursement. Fortunately they were fairly generous about setting the amount since you wouldn't be dinged much by taxes and such.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: CPA
Last year my company was audited by the IRS for this among other things. I believe we agreed to a 20% ratio as the IRS had no set standard for the percentage OR the process in which to determine personal use. We were pretty much a guinea pig for them.

Oh, and Blackberries are next.

🙁

soon they're going to try and tax us on personal use of the internets at work .. and maybe part of the water bill for toilet flushes.

looks like being in congress is my only way out of being taxed outrageously.


"really? i have to pay income tax? can't be. i wrote a personal exemption into the tax code"
/charlie rangel