If you ever deal with the IRS, pulling your own teeth with rusty pliers will seem like a fair bargain. Separate your personal & business use.
Phone Usage deduction. Personal vs Business separation.
Discussion in 'Trucker Taxes and Truck Financing' started by TallJoe, Feb 23, 2017.
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I've dealt with the IRS twice, they never once asked about telephone usage or found it to be painful. Stressful, yes, but both times the agents were very nice, although a little dry. As an S Corp it really doesn't matter, it's a difference as maybe a couple of dollars overall.
TallJoe Thanks this. -
I keep it relatively simple. There is the phones and there is the data plan. I have a unlimited data plan on my phones and use that only while on the road. So I just take the cost of the data plan and don't deduct the regular phone stuff. I use the phone as a hotspot when on the road for my laptop. I have regular wifi router at home.
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redoctober83 Thanks this.
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It's an unlimited plan, and the business buys it. There is no cost to the personal calls, so no split necessary.
Now the LLC buys the employees a phone as a business expense, which makes it even simpler.ChicagoJohn Thanks this. -
All kinds of information, so let me tell you what I was told directly by an IRS agent during my recent audit.
You add up all minutes used for business purposes, take that as a percentage of the TOTAL minutes used for the month. If you used 100 minutes total, and 10 were business, that's 10%. However much your cell phone bill is, you can deduct 10% for that month. You need to do this month by month. I can assure you, in an audit, the IRS may/will ask for ALL CELLPHONE bills, and will expect you to highlight the business calls, they may/will call some of those numbers at random to find out who they are. Heaven forbid the number has been changed. When I had my audit, the IRS officer called actually called about 6 of the numbers I highlighted, I lucked out in that the numbers were repetitive as I ran the same route all the time.
The law used to be you added up all the minutes used for business x $.25 to get the total deduction, that was changed several years back.
Your only other option is a dedicated business only line, and god forbid, even by accident, that line have even one non business call on it.tucker Thanks this. -
I just write off 75% of my total yearly bill as business use. Haven't been questioned about it.
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BoostedTeg Thanks this.
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My wife has to purchase specific shoes for her job in a restaurant, by OSHA requirements the shoes must be slip resistant and non-conductive. $140 every year for a new pair of shoes. Yes, she can wear them in public, BUT, they are a federal requirement. According to OSHA, the cost of these shoes should be deductible, per IRS regulations, they are not deductible because they can be worn at any time. I spent more than 3 weeks going round and round with the original IRS officer about these shoes, she refused to budge. When I sat down with the Appeals officer, while she agreed with me they should be deductible, per the regs they are not. It's all in black and white.BoostedTeg Thanks this.
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