Obama Budget Calls for Corp.-Liable Cell Relief

Feb. 11, 2010 (Vol. 31, No. 3)        

A single line tucked away on the 164th page of President Obama’s 192-page fiscal year 2011 budget could give telecom managers serious relief. 

The budget includes a proposal to repeal of the “listed property” designation from corporate-owned cell phones. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/budget.pdf)

If passed, the measure would relieve enterprises of the requirement to log personal usage of corporate mobile phones and tax end users for the value of their personal usage on their W2s. The law has been in place since 1989, when cell phones were an expensive executive perk. 

“The Administration recognizes that the substantiation requirements of current law with respect to cell phones, which have become a ubiquitous device for doing business, are excessively burdensome for employers, employees, and the IRS,” according to an “Analytical Perspectives” addendum to the budget. "Accordingly, the Administration proposes that cell phones (or other similar telecommunications equipment) no longer be classified as listed property, effectively removing the requirement of strict substantiation of use.”

Congress is also trying to repeal the “listed property” classification for cell phones [VR 1/14/10]. (