{"id":1120,"date":"2009-06-10T21:52:35","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T01:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2009-06-10T21:52:35","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T01:52:35","slug":"tip-of-the-week-irs-proposes-new-methods-for-substantiating-cell-phone-use-in-notice-2009-46","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/2009\/06\/tip-of-the-week-irs-proposes-new-methods-for-substantiating-cell-phone-use-in-notice-2009-46\/","title":{"rendered":"Tip of the Week: IRS Proposes New Methods for Substantiating Cell Phone Use in Notice 2009-46"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Notice 2009-46, Substantiating Business Use of Employer Provided Cell Phones<\/em><\/a>, the Internal Revenue Service<\/a>\u00a0requested comments from the public on several proposals for simplifying employer documentation of an employee\u2019s business use of an employer-provided cell phone. For this purpose, the term \u201ccell phone\u201d includes similar telecommunications devices such as iPhones, Blackberries, and Windows Mobile Devices. An employee\u2019s business use of an employer-provided cell phone is excludible from the employee\u2019s income, but the fair market value of any personal use is includible in the employee\u2019s taxable income.<\/span><\/p>\n

The IRS<\/a> is considering three methods for an employer to use to value such use of a cell phone. First is the \u201cMinimal Personal Use Method\u201d which might require an employee to establish use of a personal cell phone for personal use during business hours or a showing that the business cell phone was used for less than a certain established limit for personal use. Secondly, the \u201cSafe Harbor Substantiation Method\u201d would require a certain amount, such as seventy-five percent (75%), to be treated as business use. Finally, under the \u201cStatistical Sampling Method\u201d, an employer could use a statistical sampling method (subject to IRS<\/a> approval) to determine an average employee business use percentage.<\/span><\/p>\n

The IRS<\/a> is also looking for a method to value the employee\u2019s personal use for tax purposes. The IRS<\/a> states that the employer\u2019s cost \u201cis not determinative of the fair market value of an employee\u2019s fringe benefit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice 2009-46<\/a> provides further details on how employers may comment on the proposals and lists a deadline of September 4, 2009. Contact Vision Payroll<\/a> if you have any questions on Notice 2009-46<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Notice 2009-46, Substantiating Business Use of Employer Provided Cell Phones, the Internal Revenue Service\u00a0requested comments from the public on several proposals for simplifying employer documentation of an employee\u2019s business use of an employer-provided cell phone. For this purpose, the term \u201ccell phone\u201d includes similar telecommunications devices such as iPhones, Blackberries, and Windows Mobile Devices. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[931,929,321,930,933,28,932],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}