The
formal Telephone Allowance, as we knew it over the past number of years,
does not exist anymore for people who mainly earn a salary and can not
be used as a deduction against your taxable income. A telephone
allowance can now only be deducted if your income consists mainly of
commission income.
You
may then ask how can I still benefit if you earn a salary? The answer is very simple.
To utilize the Telephone Allowance, one needs to talk to your employer
to restructure your salary
package NOT to
include any telephone allowance, and not to add it to the cash component
of your salary either.
The
South African Revenue Service only allows the deduction of telephone
expenses, as a tax deductible business expense for a business or if you
earn mainly commission as income. SARS does allow employee telephone
expenses to be deducted by a business on a reimbursement basis. This
means that you can incur telephone expenses for your employer’s
business purposes and claim it from your employer, who can refund you
and then can claim it as a tax deduction. The easiest way to accomplish
this, if for example you receive a cellphone from your employer, which
you can use for business purposes.
If
you also use your home telephone for work purposes, you can reach an
agreement with your employer on the amount what you can claim per month
or the total amount for the year or what type of calls you can claim and
is your employer prepared to make a contribution towards the monthly
line rental.
Don’t
cut your nose to spoil your face, by trying to claim your total monthly
home telephone bill. Play it safe and only claim your genuine business
calls, not calls like calls to your partner’s parents on a Sunday or
your calls to book your annual vacation.