Sam Johnson re-introduces cell-phone fix
Washington,
Jan 27 -
Last night U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (3rd Dist.-Texas) re-introduced his common-sense proposal, The MOBILE (Modernize Our Bookkeeping In the Law for Employee’s) Cell Phone Act, H.R. 690. The Act would modernize the tax treatment of cell phones and Blackberries used for business and repeal the requirement that employers and employees maintain detailed logs of cell phone use.
A constituent concern in 2008 sparked the idea for Johnson’s cell phone fix legislation. Last year, a lawyer from North Texas contacted the Congressman on behalf of a client. The IRS wanted to verify the client’s records on employee cell phone and Blackberry use or he had to include the cost of the cell phones as part of their employees’ pay. The rules on cell-phone substantiation date back to 1989. Given the tremendous advances in this technology, Johnson thought the IRS should update the tax code as quickly as possible.
“Think back to 1989 and what cell phones looked like at that time. The phones themselves were the size of a shoe, often they were bolted to the floor of a limo, and air time cost a fortune. The movie ‘Wall Street,’ with the lead character Gordon Gekko using a ‘brick’ cell phone, was the archetype for why Congress imposed the reporting requirements – only high-flying executives had this perk and there was a belief that business deductions for such an expensive toy should be thoroughly substantiated,” said Johnson.
In the last Congress, Johnson, who sits on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, swiftly pushed his cell phone proposal through the Democrat-led Congress. Within months of introduction, the House approved Johnson’s initiative as part of the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act of 2008, H.R. 5719. Johnson hopes that President Obama will sign this legislation into law this year.
Once again, Johnson re-introduced the legislation with Democrat Congressman Earl Pomeroy (At large -N.D.), who also serves on the Ways and Means Committee. Johnson represents portions of Dallas and Collin Counties.
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