Employee - provision of home telephone policy

If one or more of your employees work from home and need a landline phone for work purposes, you might agree to provide the equipment and pay the rent and call charges. HMRC may argue that a benefit in kind charge arises because there is bound to be private use. Part of an effective counter argument is to have a home telephone policy for your employees.

business requirement

Where you pay directly for a telephone in your employee’s home, they will have to pay tax and you’ll have to pay employers’ NI on the cost of the line rental and calls, less any amount reimbursed by the employee. However, if:

• you (the employer) are the subscriber

• there’s a clear business need for the telephone

• you have procedures in place to ensure that private calls are kept to a minimum or that the employee reimburses you for the full cost of their private calls, then the employee won’t be taxed on the line rental or the calls and you’ll save the employers’ NI.

Use our Employee - Provision of Home Telephone Policy to document your procedures.