Reply to: Business mobile phones!!

[ASB]

We have personal mobile phone contracts as last year we couldn't find a competitive business deal. We (both directors) charge a % of the phone bill to expenses for the business element - I typically charge around 80% of the total bill. Unless I'm mistaken that is legit isn't it? When our contracts are up again I'll have another look (currently with O2).

All you can charge for are business calls.

A lot of perople will get their bills sent to the company in the company name and charge that in it's entirity. If this is picked up in an investigation the inspector will challenge it (if they can be bothered).

[achillea]

We have personal mobile phone contracts as last year we couldn't find a competitive business deal. We (both directors) charge a % of the phone bill to expenses for the business element - I typically charge around 80% of the total bill. Unless I'm mistaken that is legit isn't it? When our contracts are up again I'll have another look (currently with O2).

[SameOldStory]

I'm not convinced that it needs to be a business account...the mobile phone is a tax free benefit.

I have a standard consumer tariff with Orange...my name is on the contract and I was the one credit checked, but all bills and communication from orange is addressed to my company and the DD is my companies bank account.

if it's your name on the contract and you were the one credit checked, then it is your bill that the company is paying. That sounds like a BIK to me.

[Ardesco]

Ow thats more than double what I pay, how much do you use your phone ???

[fzbucks]

What plan is that ? I was looking at joining T-Mobile on a web-n-walk plan but they wanted silly money for the Vario II + co-pilot ??

It's called the business 1 plan

I just phoned them up enquiring about the MDA vario II in january - just after they came out

I pay about £90 a month for two contracts and various 'bolt ons'

[timh]

What plan is that ? I was looking at joining T-Mobile on a web-n-walk plan but they wanted silly money for the Vario II + co-pilot ??

Haggle a bit - you can probably get it cheaper or free by extending the term of your plan and/or showing them that you can get it for nothing elsewhere.

[FiveTimes]

I was with T-Mobile as was my wife/company secretary - both on perosnal plans

contacted t-mobile and transferred both plans to their business 1 plan which gives 1 bill for as many mobiles as your company wants - you also get free calls unlimited between the mobiles that are on the same account.

Also got a free MDA vario II with satnav bundled

You can tack on any extra bundles to the basic price plan such as inclusive minutes, texts and data (shared between the phones on the plan)

What plan is that ? I was looking at joining T-Mobile on a web-n-walk plan but they wanted silly money for the Vario II + co-pilot ??

[fzbucks]

Hi,

Im a newbie and just emerged from under the brolly and formed a LTD via SJD.

I've seen some good mobile phone deals online but these are personal contracts.My question is in 2 parts.

Is it easy/possible to get a personal contract and then get the billing depts to change name to mycomp ltd from my own personal name and presumably change the bank account paying bill to my company account.
(Personal accounts seem better value than business accounts)

My non earning spouse who is helping out as comp secretary would presumably be entitled to have a company mobile as well?Basically is claiming 2 x £30/month mobiles allowable?

Sorry if question has been flogged before but I'd appreciate some feedback.

Thanks!!

I was with T-Mobile as was my wife/company secretary - both on perosnal plans

contacted t-mobile and transferred both plans to their business 1 plan which gives 1 bill for as many mobiles as your company wants - you also get free calls unlimited between the mobiles that are on the same account.

Also got a free MDA vario II with satnav bundled

You can tack on any extra bundles to the basic price plan such as inclusive minutes, texts and data (shared between the phones on the plan)

[Vito]

Orange Business A/cs are mostly the same as personal ones.
One benfit is that your Cust serv no is 345 not 150 which is much better service as the call centre is UK not asia.

You can't get the free Broadband as a business customer...

[Ardesco]

By contrast I use up my free minutes every month and never use the land line and have a pretty much static bill (I even had a £100 credit applied to my account last time i upgraded because the new phone was free upgrade and and the old one got me £100 cashback, bonus a few months with no phone bill )

[despot]

Me myself and I have gone down the lean mean route of pay as you go with T-Mobile and a flat rate of 10p/min. It's the best thing I have ever done. I spend on average £10 per quarter and use it purely for very quick conversations. Very quick indeed!! Wherever possible I wll use the landline to return calls and will revert to SMS for urgent messages.

My phone is a very old phone (probably built in Communist Bulgaria). The SIM card cost me 50p. When I top-up with £10, T-mobile usually give me £2 credit. Yes, that is 20% discount!!

Who needs to wade through all the cr@ppy tariffs and latest slimmest phones. Keep it simple, and use to the absolute minimum. Your life will be better for it!! Bah humbug!!

[Ardesco]

I see nothing wrong with giving the company secretary a phone if she does work for you (rather than just being on the paper for the sake of being on it).

My company secretary deals with all the invoicing, does some customer service and has control of the company advertising. She takes a wage out of tha company and as a result gets a phone (Kind of useful if customers need to talk to her).

Also the extra phone is minimal cost on Orange contracts, the business ones have a pool of minutes and texts that all phones use so the only extra cost for an extra phone is (if i remember correctly) about £17 a month to bolt a second phone into the existing company pool of minutes and texts.

(I only mention Orange contracts as that is what I have at the moment, I assume other providers have similar offerings)

Hardly something for the shareholders to kick up a stink about really is it, especially as the handset is free.

[Bluebird]

I'm not convinced that it needs to be a business account...the mobile phone is a tax free benefit.

I have a standard consumer tariff with Orange...my name is on the contract and I was the one credit checked, but all bills and communication from orange is addressed to my company and the DD is my companies bank account.

Orange Business A/cs are mostly the same as personal ones.
One benfit is that your Cust serv no is 345 not 150 which is much better service as the call centre is UK not asia.

[Vito]

Thanks Vito thats the sort of info I was after.

So can a company secretary have one if shes an "employee"?

The company secretary can have one if she is an employee of course...however, whilst it is legitimate, it might prompt an investigation on the general way you run your company. No-one knows what prompts an investigation (other than late filing etc) but giving the company secretary a phone is clearly a way of exploiting things as much as possible and therefore I'd come and have a look through your books just to see if you've slipped up and made a mistake somewhere so I could nail you.

Lets be honest here...you can justify the company secretary as much as you like, but everyone knows its a way of reducing your personal tax bill. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion, they put loopholes in there then they should expect it to be exploited as long as it is within the law, but don't then moan if you get investigated.

A general rule of thumb for running your own business (one that I work by anyway) is treat every "employee" including yourself as if you have no personal relationship with them at all...and then consider your shareholders as if you have no personal relationship with them.

So...you should operate in the most financially efficient way possible for the sake of your shareholders, so the decision to give you a mobile stands up as it would probably cost them more if you were to bill them for your calls. If your company secretary was a girl you employed from the job centre on £95 per week, I don't think the shareholders would be too happy with you giving her a fully expensed phone as a perk.

Tim also makes a good point about business tariffs, if you are purely interested in making calls then generally speaking they are better than the consumer tariffs. Also, the service you get as a business customer is much better. That said, apart from dodgy Broadband, I have never made a single call to Orange customer services and always get whatever phone I want free of charge with cashback for my old phones. Just whatever you do go into the store on the last weekend of the month when they need to hit their targets...check online before you go in as often the online offers are better than in store, then go into the store and ask them to give you the online offer (most of the operators will do this but it is an under-the-counter offer)

Blackberry Pearl is legendary! I have a BB Pearl and a W880, get unlimited texts, 500 minutes, 6MB Blackberry email (which in real terms is more than I could ever need as it is compressed so much) and 8MB Broadband for £50...

[timh]

The business tariffs don't have to be worse than the personal ones - and the service you get as a business customer is SO much better, it's unreal.

I've ported my old personal number to a new business account with T-Mobile - all the voice/txt I'll ever need plus "unlimited" data for under 50 quid a month, with a free N95 thrown in. I have an account manager there who's an actual person with a name, a direct line and an email address - it's like being in some sort of parallel dimension after banging my head against call centres as an ordinary peon for years.