Friday, June 12, 2009
IRS Wants To Tax Citizens For Personal Use Of Company Phone
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "Pocket PC News" @ 01:00 PM
"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."
For those of you in the US of A, hold on to your wallet. The IRS wants to clamp down on personal use of your employer provided cell phone. Say your employer pays $100 per month for the phone you use and you have a 20% marginal rate. You'd pay an extra $60 in taxes each year ($1,200 X 25% usage X 20% tax rate). That may not sound like much, but it makes calling your spouse a few times a week to tell them you'll be late for dinner pretty expensive. I'm not sure about you, but my company provides drinking water for free and bathrooms with no charge for toilet paper or soap. Will the IRS try to tax us for personal use of our employer's facilities next?