Splitting the cost of a new phone for business & personal use?

[ChrisS]

I am getting a blackberry mobile as I need a new phone and want the blackberry capabilities so I can use it for personal and business use.

Can I split the costs like you do with electricity etc when working from home? If so how would I go about splitting the cost for my business expenses?

Financially (will be on contract) I will use the phone more for personal calls, but in terms of time I will use it more for business like calendar, email etc.

It would be easy with a landline but no so sure due to the capabilities of mobiles.

[Brian Turner]

I may get shot down here, but I would presume if the primary purpose of the Blackberry is business use, then it can be charged to the business.

I mean, seriously, the Blackberry isn't targeted at the non-business market, is it?

[frauke]

Be very careful. The Blackberry was reclassified on 06 April 2006 - for anyone getting on on a NEW contract in Gordon Browns Budget!

The HMRC call them "A Personal Digital Assistant", and "therefore a Blackberry is not a mobile phone for purposes of the expemption in Section 316" - this exemption is to do with mobile phones and business use for employees. It also goes on to say the "If a Blackberry is provided to an employee soley for business use, and any private use is not significant, it will be exempt under Section 316, in the same way as a mobile phone provided in the same circumstances".

You don't say what type of business (Ltd or Sole Trader) you want to make the claim.

[Brian Turner]

Ah, good ol' Gordon Brown.

I think this is something you'll probably need to have a chat with your accountant about - I suspect they should be able to find a favourable solution for you, but that I personally should be careful of making too flippant remarks on accounting issues!

[frauke]

One thing this does show - those of you that are on old contracts - hang onto them if you can........

[frauke]

Originally Posted by Brian Turner

Ah, good ol' Gordon Brown.

I personally should be careful of making too flippant remarks on accounting issues!

I wouldn't worry Brian, normally you would have been right but "Mr Small Print" (Gordon Brown), has a habit of targeting specific things - and the blackberry happened to be one of them.........

Another one was Glasses! H&S says if need glasses to see a VDU an employer should provide them free of charge - Mr Small Print said, OK, but if you also use them for non-VDU use too, (e.g. when you are not actually infront of the VDU) then its at Benefit in Kind and you have to pay tax on it if your employer pays for it!

[ChrisS]

You don't say what type of business (Ltd or Sole Trader) you want to make the claim.

I'm a sole trader.

Be very careful. The Blackberry was reclassified on 06 April 2006 - for anyone getting on on a NEW contract in Gordon Browns Budget!

Typical, ive got to waste more time sorting something stupid out! I found this article:

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-b...1019&id=166580

In the article it says:

If the item is designed to be used mainly for spoken messages then it can be exempt under the mobile phone exemption; if it is designed primarily for other functions (accessing email messages, texting, storing data and so on) then for tax purposes it is not a mobile phone but a computer.

So going on that I will use mine more for emails, organising etc for tax purposes it is a computer. So can I claim capital allowances like I did with my laptop?

Why do simple things like this have to end up getting so messy!

[frauke]

A lot of Tax is "interpretation" of the rules and providing reasons why? The HMRC do provide "concessions" which we accountants sometime have to fight for, agree or negotiate. There are some guidelines, and some of it in case law. For example most people know that you cannot claim "clothing" as a business expense (due to "duality of purpose - you have to wear clothing for decency purposes) - however I have a few clients, who I have been able to negotiate a percentage of the clothing they purchase for business use as allowable. But like many things - it can only be agreed on a case by case basis.

[Brian Turner]

Interesting - I hadn't realised clothing wasn't tax exempt - I bought a new suit specifically for business speaking engagements earlier this year, and used it only for these. I would have thought these were tax deductible, but these days, nothing surprises me about Mr Brown.

[frauke]

Originally Posted by Brian Turner

Interesting - I hadn't realised clothing wasn't tax exempt - I bought a new suit specifically for business speaking engagements earlier this year, and used it only for these. I would have thought these were tax deductible, but these days, nothing surprises me about Mr Brown.

On this occassion it was not Mr Brown that decided that clothing was not allowable. There was a tax court case where a female barrister had 2 wardrobes, one for personal use and one for specifically for Court. The rules of Court were that clothing worn under the Gown (black) in court should be simular in colour (i.e. black/grey) so her arguement was that she required to purchase clothing specifically for work and had 2 wardrobes to prove it. She lost her case as we have to wear clothing for decency purposes and therefore duality of purpose is the reason clothing is not a allowable business expense as I previously mentioned.

This is the case the HMRC will alway quote if anyone trys to make a claim.