Mobile phone battery - p11d treatment

[7specialgems]

I'm in dispute with my accountant over the treatment of a circa £10 valued mobile phone battery that was bought as an employee expense to repair the company iPhone.

I see it as part and parcel of the mobile phone and thus not attracting any tax to pay/does not need to be reported.

My accountant's view is that the mobile phone battery is an asset used for both personal and business use, and thus needs to be reported and will also attract some class 1A tax.

To clarify: This expense is a replacement mobile phone battery only. The mobile phone itself is provided for free as part of a business contract in the company's name.

Interested to know others views!

[WordIsBond]

To clarify: This expense is a replacement mobile phone battery only. The mobile phone itself is provided for free as part of a business contract in the company's name.

Your accountant understands that this is the phone for which the battery is going to be used? Will you be using it for any other phone?

If HMRC don't go after the phone / contract, it's hard for me to see them going after the battery needed to make the phone work. Your accountant must have a very, very low risk tolerance level.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

If the asset is owned by the company, then a replacement battery is clearly a company expense that the employee has paid for on behalf of its employer, so it should be reimbursed without appearing on the P11d and isn't a BIK IMO.

[eek]

Which iPhone supports a replaceable battery?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Which iPhone supports a replaceable battery?

All of them, but they aren't easily user replaceable. They don't cost a tenner either. £59 IIRC for Apple to replace.

[eek]

All of them, but they aren't easily user replaceable. They don't cost a tenner either. £59 IIRC for Apple to replace.

That's the point. That would be a clear cut bill from Apple. This sounds more like buying a usb battery pack and want to claim it.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

That's the point. That would be a clear cut bill from Apple. This sounds more like buying a usb battery pack and want to claim it.

For some reason I didn't see "iPhone" in the first post and just "phone". I see your point.

[7specialgems]

All of them, but they aren't easily user replaceable.

It was an aftermarket battery bought from an online vendor and fitted by myself.

Vendor is a Ltd and provided an invoice.

It was not a USB charging accessory, but in fact a replacement internal battery.

They don't cost a tenner either.

Yes they do.

If the asset is owned by the company, then a replacement battery is clearly a company expense that the employee has paid for on behalf of its employer,

Accountant feels that potential for personal usage of the higher asset causes the battery to fall under the asset rules and attract tax despite mobile phones themselves appearing on the A-Z as not requiring reporting and not attracting tax...

[NotAllThere]

The accountant works for you. Thank him for his advice and tell him that you (the unqualified customer) consider the item to be consumable and therefore not an asset.

However, in the scheme of things it's hardly going to make a difference to your overall tax bill, so why bother?

Oh, and btw, the discussion about batteries was germane and those post will remain.

[Scruff]

I put every mobile accessory, replacement batteries, digitisers, battery banks through and never queried by my accountant. I have had to purchase phones in short succession too, since I have left them in Datacentres, lost them etc (3-4 in one year). They are never capitalised either.

You need a new accountant.