Mobile phone (monthly contract) - used for business and personal - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

Peasie · Expert

Mobile phone (monthly contract) - used for business and personal

Merlion ABS · Senior Member

You can apportion the cost to a realistic usage.

for example, you use the mobile for say 40% private and 60% business. therefore you would attribute 60% of the £45 as a business expenses.

the same goes for the internet. 1/3 Business use so 1/3 of the cost.

however, with the phone you could if you like, mark all business calls on your bills and work out a true percentage based on time spent talking and work out the % that way. not for every bill though, but for every 2-3 a year to ensure you are maintaining a realistic split of the costs, just in case the Inland Rev come a knocking.

I think with the BT land line (Line Rental??) I wouldn't claim for that.

For Use of Home as Office, £3 a week would be allowable, you could claim upto £6 without questions (not sure of this has changed) but I wouldn't recommend this. However, dont just claim for 52 or 53 weeks. no one works for the full year ie holidays, xmas, bank holidays etc..

Peasie · Expert

Thanks.

I don't see why the BT line rental is different from the charge from Pipex though. The only time I use the landline phone is to make calls to 0800 numbers (free) which annoyingly you have to pay for on a mobile. I only have the line to get access to the internet.

Jordan · Veteran Member

Hi,

Working from home- need to check out the following HMRC papers: BIM47820 & BIM 47825.
The £3 per week is probably way short for most people using their home for business. £3 a week is ok if you are only doing paperwork while working mostly at clients premises etc, but you should be able able to claim more if you are using a room for your main business purposes.
As long as you say the room is used for other home stuff if ever asked, i.e the kids use it for telly, used to store stuff etc etc.
Hope this is of use, for some on the recent HMRC workshop for Business Expenses, this was a bit of an eye opener !

Have a happy Hew Year to all.

Merlion ABS · Senior Member

If you can prove the land line is purely for business use then yes claim for it.

ie you have another line for home use and its a separate business number

Peasie · Expert

Merlion ABS wrote:
If you can prove the land line is purely for business use then yes claim for it.

ie you have another line for home use and its a separate business number

But it's not.

The land line is only really used to connect to the internet. How else can I get a broadband connection to the internet. You need a landline and an ISP.

This is where I'm getting confused. Why can I apportion the ISP fee between business and personal use but can't apportion the landline fee. You need both. Why is one different from the other?

I don't use it for calls other than 0800 as I'm charged for these on my mobile. Any calls (business and personal) are made on my mobile.

If I didn't need the landline to connect to the internet I would not have it. I don't need it apart from that. If I wasn't bald I'd be tearing my hair out.

-- Edited by Peasie on Wednesday 12th of January 2011 06:47:08 PM

Jordan · Veteran Member

For the mobile phone, I would claim whatever is left after personal calls are taken off, maybe add a bit extra to account for a 'connection charge' etc.
For the pipex broadband, I would claim the 1/3 you suggest you estimate for business usage.
For the land line, I would claim the same percentage you do for your broadband. In your case 1/3.

The HMRC BIM 47820 has general guidance on Telephone and Broadband usage.

You are not doing anything wrong regards the land line as you are proving that you are claiming the same amount for the broadband, which has to use the land line, seems fair.

vinay · Newbie

Reply from art of chilling

Peasie · Expert

RE: Mobile phone (monthly contract) - used for business and personal

HendrikMBO · Member

this may be silly, but in the US most of the ISP provide cable service instead of ADSL - are there no cable providers in the UK?

getting cable would eliminate the need for a landline, although there would likely be some wiring costs to get the cable into the house...

ludrup · Member

Thanks for this thread. Has been really helpful for me.

Merlion ABS · Senior Member

@HendrikMBO

Yes there is Cable...Virgin Media provide cabled internet, TV and Phone.

Peasie, The Inland Revenue take a diff view on land line rental. For example benefit in kind purposes poses all sorts of problems with this.

I think they take the view that is you have a land line to your home, then the land line is for personal use first! therefore they see the rental as a private expense before any business use.

Best bet is to get the bills in the business name! makes life a little easier.

Peasie · Expert

Been looking at the HMRC website and have come to the conclusion I can't claim a penny for broadband internet use because there is a personal use as well. On thinking about it, they have a point. I am going to have to pay BT and Pipex the same amount regardless on how much I use it for business/personal use..

ADAS · Guru

Peasie wrote:
I am going to have to pay BT and Pipex the same amount regardless on how much I use it for business/personal use..

Just a thought but couldn't you take the same view with your mortgage, assuming you work from home?

ronscobber · Newbie

For those interested, you can make 0800 calls for free using 0800 buster . http://www.0800buster.co.uk/
Also Virgin Media do Internet only via cable without the need for a land line

HendyPhilhendy · Guru

The general concepts talked about are correct.

Just one thing that people should be aware of. Those running home businesses and using landline and home broadband could find problems with their service providers. It is usually in the T's & C's of your agreement that they are used for domestic use. Obviously bandwidth is becoming a major issue and if business is being run on a domestic line it is affecting home users elsewehere in your street. I have known a couple of cases, particularly rurally, where utility companies are questioning the broadband usage and issuing bills if they believe a business is being run from home.

You can run a domestic line and connect business broadband to it, in this scenario I would suggest using a VOIP solution so that you can have a separate business line. This makes sense anyway as you don't want kids answering your home line to potential clients!