Calif. Court Among the Employers Citing Headaches from Cell Phone Tax Law
A law requiring taxation of personal phone calls made on employer-provided cell phones has caused a big administrative headache for one California court.
IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman has called for repeal of the 1989 law, and the IRS is calling for comments, the Wall Street Journal reports. The law requires employees to pay taxes for personal calls made on work-provided phones.
David Yamasaki, chief executive officer of the superior court in California’s Santa Clara County, wrote about the time it takes 160 of his employees to track personal cell phone use on their work-provided phones. The employees spend about 45 work hours a month keeping the records. After all that effort, the workers reimburse the county for about 125 cell phone minutes a month.
A wireless association whose members include some of the nation’s biggest cell phone companies is calling for repeal of the law. In the meantime, the IRS should consider suspending its cell phone tax audits, according to the group, the CTIA.
