TAX YEAR 2018 or earlier How do I figure out how much of my cell phone and internet to enter since I use them both for work and home?

iluvmy3boyz — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 18:50:22 GMT

The costs of a cell phone may be a business expense, but...

bwa — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 04:34:52 GMT

The costs of a cell phone may be a business expense, but only the additional costs in using a cell phone for business are deductible. The Tax Court has several interesting cases on this. In one case, the taxpayer paid a flat rate on a phone used for business and personal calls. The court held that as he paid a flat rate for his personal phone and incurred no additional charges for business use, he has no deduction. (Ritchie, TC Summary Opinion 2005-181).

For an employee, if deductible, they would be entered as a miscellaneous itemized deduction for employee business expenses.

Example from Ritchie: "Petitioner’s cell phone was a personal phone that he also used for business calls. Petitioner testified that he paid a flat rate, regardless of phone usage. Therefore, aside from the personal expense of the phone, which is rendered nondeductible under § 262, he incurred no additional charge for business use."

Quite frankly, I've never seen an easy way to allocate internet charges short of using a log of business and personal use. Sometimes you just have to come up with a conservative estimate.

If you are an employee, they are an employee business expense, which often results in no deduction anyway. You can claim them only if:

You can itemize deductions, and
they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income.

If your miscellaneous itemized deductions clearly don't exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income there is no need to go through the time consuming effort to enter them. If they are over 2%, under the deductions and credits tab at the bottom of the list under other deductions and credits. Look for other deductions.

Turbotax explains the 2% rule at this site.

For employee business expenses look under Federal Taxes, then Deductions and Credits, then Explore on My Own, then Employment Expenses (near the bottom.)

topic ** TAX YEAR 2018 or earlier** How do I figure out how much of my cell phone and internet to enter since I use them both for work and home? in Deductions & credits

** TAX YEAR 2018 or earlier** How do I figure out how much of my cell phone and internet to enter since I use them both for work and home?

The costs of a cell phone may be a business expense, but...

topic TAX YEAR 2018 or earlier How do I figure out how much of my cell phone and internet to enter since I use them both for work and home? in Deductions & credits

TAX YEAR 2018 or earlier How do I figure out how much of my cell phone and internet to enter since I use them both for work and home?