Coming to Blackberry Near You?
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A new interpretation of work benefits could soon see HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) taxing employees supplied with a Blackberry.
In April 2006 the HRMC abolished tax exemptions on computers loaned to staff. At the time they stressed it was "complete nonsense" to suggest that Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) would be taxed as they are "primarily used as mobile telephones". However several City-based insurance broking houses have recently experienced an apparent HRMC reinterpretation that devices "designed to be used by being connected to or inserted in a computer" has been extended to include to PDAs - which includes the beloved Blackberry.
It is evidently the increased sophistication of PDA's Web browsers, coupled with their e-mail capabilities, which has led the HRMC to decree, according to the MD of a large Lloyd's broker, "that they (PDAs) are to be classified as a mobile computer and that as such, any individual using them is receiving personal benefit and is personally liable to pay tax on this benefit".
Consequently companies will have to monitor how much non-work related e-mail and Internet use each user 'enjoys' to assist in calculating each user's personal taxable benefit.
One way around this rule is to 'dumb down' the device by removing the Internet access and also, strangely, by removing its ability to take digital pictures, leaving a Blackberry that ultimately can just make or receive calls - or be what used to be called in a 'mobile'.
Will this result in large numbers of Crackberry addicts having to go cold turkey in the bars and streets of the city?
Will users denied the distraction of their Backberry actually have to interact socially with their families when on holiday?
For me the only one way to avoid the embarrassment of being caught with a dumbed down Blackberry is to dust off my Motorola 3200!
It is evidently the increased sophistication of PDA's Web browsers, coupled with their e-mail capabilities, which has led the HRMC to decree, according to the MD of a large Lloyd's broker, "that they (PDAs) are to be classified as a mobile computer and that as such, any individual using them is receiving personal benefit and is personally liable to pay tax on this benefit".
Consequently companies will have to monitor how much non-work related e-mail and Internet use each user 'enjoys' to assist in calculating each user's personal taxable benefit.
One way around this rule is to 'dumb down' the device by removing the Internet access and also, strangely, by removing its ability to take digital pictures, leaving a Blackberry that ultimately can just make or receive calls - or be what used to be called in a 'mobile'.
Will this result in large numbers of Crackberry addicts having to go cold turkey in the bars and streets of the city?
Will users denied the distraction of their Backberry actually have to interact socially with their families when on holiday?
For me the only one way to avoid the embarrassment of being caught with a dumbed down Blackberry is to dust off my Motorola 3200!
Here Is The Writer : Martin Gallagher
Martin Gallagher has never played for West Ham or England, nor had a number one hit single, but he has worked in the City for many years (for what that's worth). A life-long Londoner, he made the migration from east to west a few years back and is still trying to get used to the absence of fried chicken takeaways and the over abdundance of coffee shops. Martin is married, has two daughters, and is also interested in travelling, football and writing. He hopes to publish his first novel 'sometime in the future'.
view more articles by Martin Gallagher
