company cell phone

[Flick2215]

I work for a small fire dept in CA. The administration would like to get rid of the cellphones that they provide on the rigs since you cant find a person these days without one. The employees support this and many times use their own phones for work related phone calls instead of the provided phone. I suggested that they should require all employees to have a cell phone while on duty (which we do anyway). They could save money but the concern of the admin is that if it is required, they would have to pay for it. Does anyone know the law in CA?? I thought that they could require it and then the employee could then deduct the cost on their annual tax return. Thoughts???

Thanks

[chandler]

Not sure of the California laws, but if you use the phone exclusively for the fire department (employer) and it is required, there should be a deduction or the employer should pay for it. BUT, if you use it for personal use as well, the deduction and/or subsidy goes out the window. Of course you should review this with a tax adviser first.

[marksr]

Ya, before I retired I could deduct the cell phone in my work van since it was dedicated for business use but my home phone could not be deducted although any business related long distance calls made on that phone could be. That's the way the federal tax laws work [or used to] There may be different rules concerning state or local taxes.

Maybe the administration could require the cell phone and add a small amount to the employees paycheck to cover or partially cover the cellphone cost.

[mitch17]

We bill the company if we incur any overage costs on our personal cell phones for a business call. However, we need to have a phone, not necessarily a cell phone and no one is completely without a phone these days. The company does pay for phones for management and many of them carry two - that one and their personal phone.