Income tax deduction for personal phone used for work

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  • 00ec25
    00ec25 Posts: 9,123 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Harrypods wrote: »
    However, I see that the link you post again only relates to mobile phones provided by the employerr. not one provided by the employee.

    Even on the specific section on gov.uk (can't paste link as a newbie), despite the heading sounding promising, they assume the employee is expensing the contract, not the physical phone.
    if the company reimbursed the employee for the cost of the phone then the phone is an asset of the company, not the personal possession of the employee. At which point the contract for the phone must be in the company name.

    you cannot have a phone that you own paid for by the company, that is simply not possible and hence it is not overtly stated as being allowable since that is a double negative, you do not list what is not allowable, you simply don't list it.
  • Harrypods
    Harrypods Posts: 13 Forumite
    if the company reimbursed the employee for the cost of the phone then the phone is an asset of the company, not the personal possession of the employee. At which point the contract for the phone must be in the company name.

    But the company didn't reimburse me - that's the point. Everyone and everything seems to default to an initial position of the company paying for the phone and/or contract - which isn't the case here.


    D
  • 00ec25
    00ec25 Posts: 9,123 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Harrypods wrote: »
    But the company didn't reimburse me - that's the point. Everyone and everything seems to default to an initial position of the company paying for the phone and/or contract - which isn't the case here.


    D
    that is the point, if the company does not pay for it YOU HAVE NO CLAIM
  • Pennywise
    Pennywise Posts: 13,468 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Harrypods wrote: »
    But the company didn't reimburse me - that's the point. Everyone and everything seems to default to an initial position of the company paying for the phone and/or contract - which isn't the case here.


    D

    That's because the point is to exempt monies paid to the employee by the employer for use of the phone. If there was no exemption, such payments would be subject to tax and NIC. You're looking at it from the wrong angle. At the end of the day, it's the employer's responsibility to provide the equipment etc needed by the employee, not HMRC or the taxpayer. If the employer pays the employee, then there's provision for those payments to be tax free.
  • FlameCloud
    FlameCloud Posts: 1,953 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Harrypods wrote: »
    But the company didn't reimburse me - that's the point. Everyone and everything seems to default to an initial position of the company paying for the phone and/or contract - which isn't the case here.


    D

    Given you seem to be disagreeing with everyone here, do you think it would be best if you paid for your own accountant to review?
  • SuperHan
    SuperHan Posts: 2,269 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    No.

    To claim an employment expense, it must be wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in relation to your employment.

    As the phone is also used for personal calls, it is not wholly and exclusively for your employment (and arguably not necessarily). You have duality of purpose and so cannot claim the expense for tax purposes.

    (Looking for guidance on "duality of purpose" or "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" should find the info that you need).

    https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees

    See paragraph under example 1.
  • TheCyclingProgrammer
    TheCyclingProgrammer Posts: 3,702 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Photogenic
    Re: the above post, just to be clear, if the employer had provided the phone (either just the phone itself or the phone and a business SIM) it can be used for personal and business calls without there being a BIK. That’s why I suggested the salary sacrifice option.
  • Tom99
    Tom99 Posts: 5,371 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    You can claim for the cost of calls whilst working at home so why not cost of calls from a mobile?

    "You can only claim for things to do with your work (for example, business telephone calls or the extra cost of gas and electricity for your work area).
    You can’t claim for things that you use for both private and business use (for example, rent or broadband access)."
  • Pennywise
    Pennywise Posts: 13,468 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Tom99 wrote: »
    You can claim for the cost of calls whilst working at home so why not cost of calls from a mobile?

    As said upthread, you can, but on a contract, most calls will be included in the free minutes, so there is no "cost of call", i.e. it costs the subscriber nothing to make the business calls.

    Of course, if any business calls were chargeable, i.e. to premium rate numbers, etc., then those would be claimable.
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