[Buzz_Dengue]

IRS: We�re not taxing your company phone
The Star - Posted on Fri, September 23, 2011 09:33 AM

So you�re one of those lucky types who gets a cell phone from your employer. And since you�d rather not carry two phones (and pay a personal cell phone bill) you use the company BlackBerry (we�re stereotyping, we know) to call home, to text the kids, to surf the �Net looking for ball scores.

Of course, since that company phone doubles as a personal life tool, you�ve been listing it as a taxable benefit on your income taxes. We know you�d never overlook a benefit like that � worth perhaps $1,000 a year. Right?

Well, report (or fret about not reporting) that benefit no more.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice saying �when an employer provides an employee with a cell phone primarily for noncompensatory business reasons, the business and personal use of the cell phone is generally nontaxable to the employee. The IRS will not require recordkeeping of business use in order to receive this tax-free treatment.�

This followed federal legislation passed last year, at the request of the wireless industry, to see that people could carry cell phones without getting taxed on the benefit.

�Fantastic!� posted former football star and one-time congressman Steve Largent on the blog of the CTIA, the cell phone industry association. �I�m glad the IRS has finally had the last word on repeal of a rule that might have made sense in the late 1980s, but made no sense at all in today�s mobile, always-connected world.�

IRS: We’re not taxing your company phone - KansasCity.com