The UK Blackberry Tax

By on October 13, 2006 in Devices

Link: Message from the taxman: don’t send personal e-mails on your CrackBerry – Britain – Times Online

THEY are the hand-held devices so addictive that they are known as ‘CrackBerries”. The palm-sized mobile phone with e-mail and internet access allows professional users never to feel out of touch.

Now the taxman is about to dampen their ardour: anyone who sends too many personal e-mails on a work BlackBerry could face a bill of hundreds of pounds, under new rules governing work benefits.

‘Anything designed to be used by being connected to or inserted into a computer” will also now be liable for tax, including printers, scanners, modems and even MP3 players, according to Revenue & Customs BlackBerries and other ‘personal digital assistants” (PDAs) had been exempt from tax because they were used mainly as mobile telephones, but their increasing sophistication has brought them into the taxman’s orbit.

This looks like one of those balloons the Government floats now and again to see how people react. Badly, in this case.

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Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
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  • http://www.ShopQwik.com mark

    Tossers!

    I’m planning to scratch my arse about 4:30 today… I’ll give gordon a ring to see if he’d like to tax that too…..

  • http://www.technokitten.com technokitten

    grrrr. That one ain’t gonna get him elected as PM when the time comes. Seems really mean-spirited to me on the face of it.

  • http://www.sendmytxt.co.uk Alex

    Apparently it’s just a rumour, so says HMRC in an article on The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/13/rev_wont_tax_blackberries/)

    Saying that though, I wouldn’t put it past the Government to do something like this!

  • http://www.itaggsolutions.com steve procter

    I have just read in the Daily Bull that the government is considering taxing anybody who has owned more than one handset per year under the new Handset Addict Tax. So for example if in 6 years you have had 28 or more handsets then you will be taxed – and it will be backdated to the day your grandfather was born.

    Ewan, I know of a good Pacific Island where the tax man can’t reach you. The downside is that mobile roaming charges mean calling back to the UK will cost you more than the tax!! ;-)

    steve/itagg

  • http://sidbb8700g.greatestjournal.com Sid

    Wow! I am ‘shocked’.

    I thank heavens that I am not affected by this tax.

    But look at it logically. One is bound to integrate personal e-mail accounts on their BlackBerries. This thing just does not make sense to me. When I first read it I was like.. What?!? Kiddin’ right?

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