Personal Use of Telephones

Employees must reimburse their departments for:

·         Long-distance personal calls made on a University office telephone

·         All personal calls made on a University-provided cellular phone

The following sections of this policy provide additional guidance on University-provided cellular phones.

 

General Policy on University-Provided Cellular Phones

 

The University may provide cellular telephone service for employees whose duties and responsibilities require wireless access to telephone service.  UNITS is considered to be the University’s preferred provider of cellular telephone service.  University-provided cellular telephone service is intended for business use.  Provision of cellular telephone service is at the discretion of the employee’s department.  The employing unit is responsible for documenting the business purpose of University-provided cellular telephone service and for the payment of all charges.  Use of a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle is prohibited.

 

University-provided cellular phones are University property and must be returned upon termination of employment with the University.  If the cell phone is not returned, the cost of the phone will be reported as taxable income on the employee’s W-2 form.

 

Procurement of Cellular Phone Service

 

Cellular telephone service for employees should be provided through UNITS or a service provider affiliated with UNITS.  The appropriate level of cellular telephone service should be determined by the department based on University needs, the employee’s duties and available funding.  Departments may purchase wireless communication services from outside vendors if those services are not currently offered by UNITS or if the department can document some other valid business reason for using an outside vendor. The cost of cellular telephone plans purchased from outside vendors should not exceed the cost of comparable service plans provided by UNITS. 

 

Departments should review the service plans provided to employees on an annual basis to ensure that plan minutes are reasonable compared with actual business use.  If business use is infrequent (or if the service is used primarily for

 

personal calls), the employee should provide his/her own cellular telephone service and submit reimbursement requests for documented business use.

 

Use of University procurement cards to pay for cellular phone service is prohibited.

 

Personal Use of University-Provided Cellular Phones

 

University-provided cellular telephones are intended for business use. In accordance with IRS documentation requirements, departments must retain cellular telephone bills and be able to distinguish between business and personal use. 

 

For purposes of this policy, personal use of a University-provided cellular phone of up to 10 minutes per month will be considered “de minimis” and will not require reimbursement to the University.  However, if personal use exceeds this de minimis threshold, the employee must reimburse the University for all of his/her personal use.  The reimbursement amount is to be computed based on personal use as a percentage of total use.  If an employee exceeds the total monthly plan minutes, the employee must reimburse the University for his/her percentage of personal use, plus any overage charges associated with personal use. If an employee incurs roaming (out-of area) charges on a University-provided cellular phone, he/she must reimburse the University for any such charges associated with personal calls.  Reimbursements to the University for personal cellular phone use may be made on a monthly or quarterly basis.

 

Illustrative examples of this policy appear below.

 

Example 1:  Assume that an employee has a University-provided cellular phone plan that provides 500 minutes a month for $60, total use for the month is 300 minutes, and personal use for the month is 100 minutes.  Under these assumptions, the employee would reimburse the University $20 for his/her personal use ($60 * 100/300) = $20.

 

Example 2: Assume that an employee has a University-provided cellular phone plan that provides 500 minutes a month for $60, total use for the month is 600 minutes, and personal use for the month is 200 minutes.  Also assume that minutes in excess of the plan limit incur an additional charge of $0.25 per minute. Under these assumptions, the employee would reimburse the University $37    for his/her personal use ($60 * 100/500) + (100 * $0.25) = $37.

 

Example 3: Assume that an employee has a University-provided cellular phone plan that provides 500 minutes a month for $60, total use for the month is 600 minutes, and personal use for the month is 50 minutes.  Also assume that minutes in excess of the plan limit incur an additional charge of $0.25 per minute.  Under these assumptions, the employee would reimburse the University $12.50 for his/her personal use (50 * $0.25) = $12.50.

 

Example 4: Assume that an employee has a University-provided cellular phone plan that provides 500 minutes a month for $60, total use for the month is 300 minutes, and personal use for the month is 100 minutes.  Also, assume that the employee incurs $30 of roaming (out-of-area) charges, $25 of which is related to personal calls.  Under these assumptions, the employee would reimburse the University $45 for his/her personal use ($60 * 100/300) + $25 = $45.

 

Cellular Phones on Sponsored Projects:

 

The base fee for a cell phone is usually not allowable on a sponsored project.  The base fee is considered a local telephone cost that is already paid by the sponsor as part of the F&A (indirect cost) rate.  Under certain unusual circumstances, cell phone charges may be allowable on a project.  Faculty and staff should contact their Sponsored Program Officer before attempting to charge these fees to a sponsored project.

 

Taxable Allowance Option for Cellular Phones

 

To reduce the administrative burdens associated with tracking business and personal use of University-provided cellular phones, colleges and vice presidential units have the option of offering a taxable allowance for cellular phone service, similar to those provided under the Home Internet Connectivity Policy.  Under this option, University payment or reimbursement for cellular phone service will be reported as taxable income on the employee’s W-2 form. No record keeping of business and personal use is required for central University purposes. However, record keeping requirements or review procedures may be established at the college/unit level.

 

Reimbursement for Business Calls on Personal Cellular Phones

 

If the business use of a cellular telephone is infrequent, or if the personal use exceeds business use, the department should require the employee to provide his/her own cellular telephone and submit reimbursement requests for business calls.  A copy of the cellular phone bill, detailing the individual calls to be reimbursed, must accompany the reimbursement request.  The reimbursement amount is to be computed based on business use as a percentage of total use.

 

For example, assume that an employee has a personal cellular phone plan that provides 500 minutes a month for $60, total use for the month is 300 minutes, and business use for the month is 100 minutes.  Under these assumptions, the University would reimburse the employee $20 for his/her business use ($60 * 100/300 = $20). 

 

The University may also reimburse employees for roaming (out-of-area) charges associated with business calls.

 

See the Travel Policy for reimbursement of phone calls while on travel status.

 

Procedure

 

 

 

Effective: July 1, 2004

 

Revised: July 1, 2005