Comments on: iPhone, uTax?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:20:58 +0000

I know this is old news, but it was linked in the email and caught my eye… I guess I just always try to think creatively to avoid extra paperwork when it *shouldn’t* be necessary if “perceived” goodwill is involved. thinking about this, I looked up de minimis gift since I had never come across that before, and see generally what it means an how the iphone would not apply… my (hypothetical) question is this:

if apple, instead of “giving” each employee an iphone, decided to “supply” each employee with an iphone as required equipment, could they not take the burden off of the employee as well as their matching fica amount and write it off instead as company-owned equipment provided to the employees to “test” and use as they see fit (as they naturally would with any phone “in-the-wild”)? I assume at some point apple would have to reclaim possession of the phones or publicly write them off as old equipment and sell them to them for $1 if they wished to continue using them.

there might be a few extra hoops to jump through for apple (company memos, press releases, etc), but the time to do that versus the additional hr time to organize things and pay fica taxes would have made this a viable alternative, no? am I thinking it’s too easy to get around the issue that comes from this? it seems a worthwhile investment in time to investigate when considering the taxation of those employees as well as the fica matching on 18k x $600 worth of taxes. again, I realize this is old news, but I’m sure it’ll come up again as other companies do similar things…

By: Taxgirl Goes to the Movies: Trading Places

Taxgirl Goes to the Movies: Trading Places — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:40:20 +0000

[...] But when it comes to income, assuming that Billy Ray is being paid a salary, which is taxable, he would also have to consider the source of his other trappings. And this is where my analysis gets a little bit hazy. Billy Ray begins to live in Louis’ house. It’s clearly not a gift from Louis – but I’m not sure what it else it would be since that part isn’t really explained in the film. If the home was somehow part of the compensation package of being at the firm, then the fair market value of the perks would be reportable as income. It can’t be a gift from the brothers while he’s an employee; remember that usually, employers can’t make significant non-taxable gifts to employees. [...]

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:46:40 +0000

Ryan -
If you’re saying that in the past, Apple has noted a “de minimis” gift on a paycheck for purposes of record-keeping, that’s cool.
But Apple cannot simply wipe away the taxable nature of this gift (and it is taxable) with a line item on a paycheck.

By: ryan

ryan — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:31:01 +0000

every time apple gives something to its employees, it takes care off all the tax liability with a special non-taxable info line item on the paycheck. This isn’t the first time.

By: Scooter Scoots, But You've Got Work to Do at PIGASYS

Scooter Scoots, But You've Got Work to Do at PIGASYS — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:07:44 +0000

[...] Taxgirl.com breaks it to Apple employees the iPhone Steve Jobs gave’m is a gift that really isn’t a gift. [...]

By: b5media - Welcome to July

b5media - Welcome to July — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:25:23 +0000

[...] Steve Jobs has announced that Apple employees will receive a high end version of the iPhone at the end of July. Cool, right? Did he happen to tell them that they’ll be taxed on it? Kelly at taxgirl.com explains why, in this case, a gift really isn’t a gift. [...]

By: When Home Business Owners Give Employees Gifts…

When Home Business Owners Give Employees Gifts… — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:06:39 +0000

[...] at Taxgirl, brought up an interesting point in her post, iPhone,uTax, concerning gifts from businesses to employees. She connected this information with Apple giving [...]

By: Mary Emma Allen

Mary Emma Allen — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:48:09 +0000

Interesting information, Kelly, for businesses that decide to give gifts…and the employees who receive them.

By: Purple Lemon » Blog Archive » Hate Lacey Schwimmer?

Purple Lemon » Blog Archive » Hate Lacey Schwimmer? — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 05:14:07 +0000

[...] iPhone, uTax? Working at Apple just got a little sweeter, it seems. Apple has announced that it is giving free … does the right thing, will include the price of the iPhone as compensation. Oh yeah, no matter how Steve Jobs announces the iPhone, it s not a gift. It s compensation. In almost every situation [...]

By: University Update - Apple iPhone - iPhone, uTax?

University Update - Apple iPhone - iPhone, uTax? — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 04:57:02 +0000

[...] Link to Article apple iphone iPhone, uTax? » Posted at taxgirl on Friday, June 29, 2007 [...]