SB-expenses-mobile phone

daisydaisy_3

Hi everyone.I was wondering if anyone knew whether mobile phone bills that are being claimed as an allowable business expense have to be itemised to prove that all calls are made during business hours?Hope someone can help!Thanks.

Savvy_Sue

I would say that what you have to establish is NOT that all calls are made during business hours, but that you have a separate phone / line which you keep for personal calls. However, I won't pretend to be an expert here!

My point is that it may be entirely legit. to make business calls outside business hours, so 'proving' that they were all made in business hours doesn't get you anywhere. Does that make sense?

daveoneil

Hi

I use my business paid mobile from my own business to make out of hours calls all of the time, both business and non. My accountant has never asked for itemisation and I wouldn't be happy to give it. I think there are also common sense boundaries - if for example you are spending 3 grand a month then the powers that be may be more interested, but for a standard price phone bill I can't see anyone making a mountain out of a molehill...

Savvy_Sue

I've now decided I'm not clear whether you are wanting to claim for SOME calls made on a personal bill, or claiming a wholly business bill.

If it's a wholly business bill, then I stand by what I said before and that nice chap daveoneill is with me.

If it's some calls on a personal bill, then it depends on the circumstances. If you're wanting to claim them as expenses through your employer, then the employer should have a policy, and you need to follow it. If they are asking for an itemised bill, you can argue the toss with them about why you can't provide one. But I KNOW that the IR can be quite sticky about this if the company has applied for an exemption - ie to get out of writing 'NIL' across a form for every single employee at the end of the tax year to say no expenses have been paid which ought to have been taxed, to put it simply.

If it's your own business, I think dave's still right: as long as what you're claiming appears 'reasonable' and not over-inflated, no-one is likely to create a fuss. I used to spend hours looking for odd pennies which were not quite reconciled on bank statements, only to find the accountant was rounding everything up to the nearest £100. I exaggerate, of course ...

daveoneil

What a nice "chapess" you are too Sue ... does anyone know where the mutual appreciation board is?

One other thing did occur to me - do not, under any circumstances, pay the mobile bill from your personal account and then reimburse yourself from your business account. With normal things, like paper, pens etc, it is clear these are for the business so doing this is fine. However, when doing it with a phone where you may have to argue the toss with someone about which calls are which, it could appear that you are a) trying to claim calls are business calls when it is a personal mobile or b) trying to launder money! B is a bit less likely but having the phone fully paid from your business account is much neater and safer all round, plus it cuts down on the admin we all love so much. Also Sue, sadly my accountant rounds down on income and up on expenditure, at least it often seems such!