Reply to: Personal Sim Only Plan in a Business phone?

[northernladuk]

So personal sim ok as long as not paid by Co.


i am disappointed with the XS max. The only decent feature i like is the face id. That’s a lot of money down the drain

Someone ought to just take everything off the Apple wiki page and just replace it with that.

[css_jay99]

So personal sim ok as long as not paid by Co.


i am disappointed with the XS max. The only decent feature i like is the face id. That’s a lot of money down the drain

[craigy1874]

What this means is if the business pays for a plan and that contract is not in the company name, then it is treated as a BIK. It clearly says "one mobile phone OR SIM card".

If you are paying for the personal SIM out of your own money then it cannot be a BIK as you aren't receiving any benefit.

Read the technical guidance:
EIM21779 - Employment Income Manual - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK



Any phone paid for by the business should be invoiced int he company name. Any contract (if there is one) should be in the company name IF it is to be paid for by the company.

Thanks for beating me to this

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

What's exempt
You don’t have to report anything to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or deduct and pay tax and National Insurance if both the following apply:
- you provide your employee with only one mobile phone or SIM card
- the phone contract is between you and the supplier

Expenses and benefits: mobile phones: What's exempt - GOV.UK

Unless both conditions above are met, you would have to report it as BIK. Debatable, I know...

What this means is if the business pays for a plan and that contract is not in the company name, then it is treated as a BIK. It clearly says "one mobile phone OR SIM card".

If you are paying for the personal SIM out of your own money then it cannot be a BIK as you aren't receiving any benefit.

Read the technical guidance:
EIM21779 - Employment Income Manual - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK

In most circumstances the provision of one mobile ‘phone to a director or employee for private use is exempt from charge. The exemption covers the phone itself, any line rental and the cost of private calls paid for by the employer on that phone.

Any phone paid for by the business should be invoiced int he company name. Any contract (if there is one) should be in the company name IF it is to be paid for by the company.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Apparently, mobile phone on business, with business not paying for the air time is a no-no.

Rubbish. An employer can provide one mobile phone (and/or mobile plan) for mixed business and personal use. There's nothing in HMRCs guidance that suggests you must do both (i.e. it's fine to use a personal SIM in a business phone where the business pays for just the phone, or a business SIM in a personal handset, where the business just pays for the contract).

[zonkkk]

Apparently says who? Because they are wrong.

What's exempt
You don’t have to report anything to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or deduct and pay tax and National Insurance if both the following apply:
- you provide your employee with only one mobile phone or SIM card
- the phone contract is between you and the supplier

Expenses and benefits: mobile phones: What's exempt - GOV.UK

Unless both conditions above are met, you would have to report it as BIK. Debatable, I know...

[SuperLooper]

I use a personal SIM in my company's phone. The phone was purchased as essential hardware since I develop phone apps for my clients; I never actually use it for business-related phone calls. Calls are all personal, so I'm quite happy to just have a personal plan (£7.50 a month from GiffGaff).

[Spoiler]

I currently have an all you can eat data and minutes with Three for £20 on a rolling monthly plan in another phone This is paid for personally. I am a heavy data user.

The cheapest comparable business plan with unlimited data is a 12 month plan at £30 excluding VAT. This is more expensive than a personal plan both in cost and duration.

Last time I was shopping around for a new plan for my Ltd's phone I spoke to Vodafone (as in actually phoned them and talked to a real person) - they offered me a plan that was advertised as a personal plan (i.e. cheaper than the comparable advertised business one) and let me take it out in my Ltd's name.

So, decent priced plan that's invoiced to & paid for by my Ltd - good to go

[craigy1874]

Apparently, mobile phone on business, with business not paying for the air time is a no-no.

Apparently says who? Because they are wrong.

[zonkkk]

The OP doesn’t want to claim the SIM as an expense. That’s how I read it anyway. So it’s really simple.

Apparently, mobile phone on business, with business not paying for the air time is a no-no.

[Lance]

Using Dual SIM with an eSIM - Apple Support

[Lance]

That’s all fine then. New iPhone takes one physical SIM card and also has an esim. Esim is a virtual sim so you can have loads of contracts without swapping the SIM card. Modern iPad LTE has esim as does the watch and the surface LTE. You just need to find a carrier who’ll activate on it. Vodafone have just launched esim with the watch 4. EE have had it for a while.

[css_jay99]

Just in case I was not clear.

I currently have an all you can eat data and minutes with Three for £20 on a rolling monthly plan in another phone This is paid for personally. I am a heavy data user.

The cheapest comparable business plan with unlimited data is a 12 month plan at £30 excluding VAT. This is more expensive than a personal plan both in cost and duration.

I am happy to put my personal sim in my yet to purchase shiny business iphone if it is ok from a company/hmrc point of view. if it is not them i will get rid of the personal plan and buy the the business plan

I hope that makes sense


ps i was not aware that the iphone xs max has 2 sims ?

[Lance]

I have looked into this and my conclusion is that if you get a contract it needs to be on the business.
You can work around it by getting a pay as you go SIM, and loading it with monthly bundles paid by the company. This seems like an acceptable compromise from what I've read.

However, lately, there are a few established mobile phone websites that have business rates listed, which are much better than going direct to the big providers.

The OP doesn’t want to claim the SIM as an expense. That’s how I read it anyway. So it’s really simple.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

It doesn't really matter, but you won't be able to claim the cost of the personal SIM through the business, only the handset (the handset invoice should really be in company name) and itemised business calls. If this works out cheaper than a business plan with the tax saving (don't forget the VAT saving as well if you're on the standard VAT scheme) then go for it. I used a personal SIM in a company purchased phone for years before moving over to a Virgin business SIM.