If my phone landline, internet, and cable are bundled, how do I subtract the cable since I'm claiming the phone/internet as a business expense?

[talespinner]

I need to claim the bill (for phone landline and internet) for business use, but not necessarily the cable aspect.  However, since I *also* use my cell phone for business, perhaps it will just balance out if I don't claim the cell phone bill at all.  Thoughts?

[Marketstar]

Your provider doesn't provide you with an itemized bill? You can deduct cell phone expenses to the extent that you can document business calls in an audit.

[talespinner]

Is cell phone use preferred for business expense, or landline?

[Marketstar]

Either, if you can document business calls, otherwise it is best to have a dedicated phone line.

[talespinner]

Excellent.  I can indeed document dates and lengths of calls on my cell -- my primary phone for business -- so that works out fine.  I will just ask the other company which portion of my bill was only internet.  Thank you.

[Opus 17]

 If you don't have a dedicated business only phone and Internet, then there are two schools of thought on deducting the expenses. 

 One argument is that you can deduct the percentage of business use from the plan cost, but only if you have a reasonable way of determining the percentage of business use, like a diary, log, or other record.  

  The other argument is that if you have a flat rate monthly bill, you can't deduct anything for business use, because your bill would be the same whether it was 1% business or 90% business, therefore the business does not increase your cost. 

 I personally believe that the second argument is more correct, although I don't have an IRS reference handy.  Even with the first argument, you can only deduct the percentage of your bill if you have a reasonable way of showing went at the percentage of business use was. 

 Of course, if you establish a separate phone and Internet connection for business only use, then you could fully deducted.