Cellular phone for business ?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I wonder if you can deduct a cell-phone bought just for business travel as a business expense? I was once told by my accountant that if I had another phone installed (I have two now) that only one could be used as a business expense. (I thought maybe one for the internet was a business expense since I use the internet mostly for business purposes and another phone for just business calls and then my own private phone for everyone to use would, of course, not be a business expense. Since she said I could only have one home business phone and I really felt that I did need a cellular phone for travel that maybe in this case it would be more considered a business (travel) phone and it would be different as a deduction!! Does anyone else do both as a deduction or know if this can be used as a deduction along with your business phone when you have your office at home? I will, of course, talk to my accountant about it, but I am not so sure I trust her judgment on the fact that even if I use two phones for business (one for the internet for business and one for business calls) that I can only deduct one. I would think since the cell phone is used outside of my home, but for business purposes that it would then be deductible along with the home based business phone.

A. You cannot deduct a single home phone as a business expense (except you can deduct any long distance charges that are made for business). If you have business lines in your home, I would think there is no limit on how many you deduct. I have two business lines (and these are not just extra resdential phone service). I have a pager I deduct. I do not deduct my cell phone because it is not really for business. It I used it mainly for business I would deduct it. We have a cable online service which allows both of us to access at same time and I deduct half of it as business. I rarely use it for anything other than business. I do also have a personal laptop I use on line. However, we do not note that we are deducting half to keep it simple. I don't understand why she would think you can only deduct one business line? That is ridiculous. Some services would need multiple phone lines for incoming dictation, etc. My husband has his own business and we deduct his cell phone every year so far, have not had a problem (as I am knocking on wood) and our accountant seems to think this is okay. He also has a inline phone that we deduct, and any phonecalls he makes from home I just highlight in our phone bill (as it is long distance to his business area) and add those up and deduct that too! I would be looking for a new accountant. Businessees have 10-15, 30 telephone lines. My business has three cells phones. There is no limit. You just have to be sure that you use it for business purposes. I have always deducted my cell phone. The offices I do business for have to be able to reach me. I rarely use it for anything other than business. I am sure there is no limit to the number of phones a business can have. As someone else said, I think you need a new accountant. I also deduct half my home phone bill, and my internet access (just going to an ADSL line next week). Since I do use the internet for personal use occasonally and e-mail, and since I will certainly do it more so with ADSL, I will probably only charge 1/2 of the new service to my business. I am still awaiting the results of my income tax both business and hubbies. (The paperwork has been there for about three weeks now.) She stated that I could only deduct toll calls from personal phone to businesses and the other phone 100% business, but she said because I am a "home office" and not a regular business that I can only deduct one phone for business no matter if I had 10 phones hooked up for business because for home office use you are only allowed one. That is fine with me, but since the cell-phone is not in the house or connected to any part of my home office and will be on my person or in my car, I am going to ask her if it is treated the same as a home office phone. If she says I still can't deduct it, I am going to call the IRS personally and ask about the home office phone deduction and see if in fact with a home-based business you are only allowed one phone 100% business use. In fact, I might just call tomorrow anyway out of curiosity and will post what I find out. It certainly seems a BIG rip off if you are using two phones for a business and only allowed to deduct one!!

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