HKS BlackBerry Reimbursement Policy
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HKS has a policy for the voice plan, and one for the data plan. Both are below.
Voice Plan
IRS regulations stipulate that an employer must be able to reasonably differentiate between expenses that are either business or personal. Charges for basic monthly cell phone service or recurring fees are not allowable since there is no way to identify which portion of the recurring monthly service fee was business related.
Cell phone charges that can be identified as business related should be reimbursed after the fact by submitting either a web reimbursement or a GE payment request. If an employee chooses to increase his/her personal monthly cell phone fee in exchange for more/ less expensive minutes, that is considered a personal decision. Only business related costs paid beyond the monthly fee can be reimbursed.
Data Plan
Reimbursement for expenses paid to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the data plan for a Blackberry may be made without generating taxable income to the reimbursee only if we satisfy stringent IRS guidelines. In brief, the expense must be "necessary" for the individual's work. The convenience of being able to work at home or on the road is not adequate justification. Instead, the test is whether the individual would be unable to perform key job responsibilities without this access (e.g., members of the school's emergency management team or certain IT personnel). Additionally, the school will reimburse staff who work from home only if that work is part of a School-approved flexible work schedule whereby working from home is a regular part of that staff member's paid work schedule.
The Kennedy School will make tax-free reimbursements to faculty or staff members who need remote access because of frequent travel on behalf of the school, or another business necessity. Before these reimbursements can be made, the HKS Office of Financial Services must have on file a certification that explains the business need. The certification will need to be made: for a faculty member, by the faculty member, or for a staff member, by the associate dean or research center director to whom the staff member reports.
Please contact Connie Mugnai (6-6225) to request reimbursement approval.
