Do you claim back any of your phone bills?

[juliaemma]

With keeping the tax accounts and what to claim back.....do you claim back for any of your phone bills? If yes, how do you do it?

I have only just stopped minding and i was always told this was a no no.

Yes - As Ofsted require you to have a working phone (it's in the standards) you can claima proportion of your phone

Either get an itemised bill and mark each call work out how much that is of your total amount and then claim that plus that percentage of your line rental

Or just say half of the whole thing (as I use the BT all day thing)

My Tax lady went for this (she's a small business advisor)

Also as I use a pay and go I claim half of this too

If you have only got one line then you shouldn't be claiming a proportion of your line rental as it isn't affected by your business use. ( standard charge). You may be on dodgy ground if you are ever subject to an enquiry. (similarly pay as you go mobiles..)

Actually, the NCMA guidelines state that, be it a landline or a mobile, you can deduct a proportion of the line rental and the cost of the business calls, so an itemised bill is recommended.

It gives an example that if 35% of the calls made were business, so 35% of the rental could be recorded as a legitimate expense.

What a nightmare to have to work out!!! I don't work mine out to the nnnnth degree like that, but I certainly put down something for landline calls (not rental because I've never thought about that before!!) and a percentage of my contract mobile.

Actually this is totally wrong. The IR legislation states that you can deduct the actual cost of business calls but unless you have a separate line dedicated for business use you cannot claim the line rental, because it isn't a business expense. If the NCMA are telling people otherwise then they are misleading them, and could get them into trouble.

I have that BT anytime thingie and I use a percentage of that....& my broadband

Is that OK?

Have the NCMA got it wrong then? Am very confused, because what I put is what they have in their NCMA Members' Handbook no. 3 - Tax, Benefits and National Insurance (2005/2006). This is what childminders are going to be reading!! Could be a problem ... think I will have to ring them tomorrow ...