Can you claim mobile phone costs against your business?

Most of us would be lost without our mobile phones for our business - I know I would be.  

But can we claim our mobile phone costs against our business for tax purposes?

That depends on whether you are a sole trader or a limited company.  

Here are HMRC’s guidelines

Claim mobile phone costs against business - Sole Trader

As a sole trader things are a little more flexible (than a Limited Company director) when it comes to your mobile phone costs being an allowable business expense. 

If you have one phone for business and personal, then you'll need to split out your personal and business use. 

To work out the split have a look at your monthly total bill costs over the course of the period and if they are relatively consistent then have a look at a sample period of three months and work through the use in each bill and highlight either the business calls/use or the personal calls/use (whichever is likely to be smaller, as there will be less to highlight).

Once you have done this you should be able to work out the correct amount to allocate to the business. Remember to factor in data charges, VAT, line rental etc.

This is never going to be 100% correct but as long as you are sensible when doing the calculation and can show HMRC your workings if ever inspected you should be fine.

Alternatively you can have a separate business phone and then the whole amount of the bill is tax deductible.

Claim mobile phone costs against business - Limited Company

HMRC brought out new rulings in 2012 which has allowed a limited company to provide its staff/directors with one smartphone each.

The phone can be used for both business and personal use without incurring a taxable benefit, however the contract must be in the company name.

It cannot be a personal mobile phone contract even if it is used entirely for business use, otherwise you will have a tax charge.  

So where does that leave you if you already have a business phone but it is in your personal name?  

Well you can get in touch with your mobile phone provider and ask them to transfer the contract to your limited company (I am assuming you are the owner/director of the limited company, if you are just an employee of the company you will clearly need to discuss this with the directors).  

Just be careful when transferring the contract that you understand the charges as sometimes the providers will try and charge more for a business account.

The alternative is to take out a new business contract.

Having your mobile phone in your limited company is actually a very tax efficient benefit, if done correctly.

If you do not have the mobile phone contract in the company name you can only claim highlighted specific call charges that have been incurred on your personal mobile phone contract for business use.  However these days most contracts have inclusive minutes so there will be zero cost against these calls and you therefore cannot claim the expense.

No claim can be made for line rental without there being a tax charge. You can see that it is definitely worth getting that contract in the company name.

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