Updated November 7, 2026. Quick answer: A cell phone is no longer listed property, so the strict listed-property log does not apply to it, but only the business share of a mixed-use phone or internet bill is deductible and you have to be able to support that share. Section 262 treats personal expenses as nondeductible, so keep the bills and a short note showing how you arrived at the business percentage.
On deductions by profession: tax deductions for private tutors, tax deductions for virtual assistants and tax deductions for web developers.
Phones left the listed-property rules in 2010
This page reads the primary sources linked under Sources, as retrieved on November 6 and 7, 2026.
Section 280F(d)(4) defines the listed property that section 274(d) makes subject to substantiation. Before 2010 the list included phones. The statute’s history note records the change in Pub. L. 111-240, which “struck out former cl. (v) which read as follows: “any cellular telephone (or other similar telecommunications equipment), and”” This page’s reading is that the listed-property substantiation rule, with its mileage-style log, no longer applies to a phone. It does not mean the phone is fully deductible.
The personal share is not deductible
The general rule is section 262: “no deduction shall be allowed for personal, living, or family expenses.” A phone or internet connection you also use personally is deductible only for the business part. Section 6001 is the record rule: every taxpayer “shall keep such records” as the Secretary prescribes, and the regulation asks for books or records “sufficient to establish the amount of gross income, deductions, credits, or other matters required to be shown by such person in any return of such tax or information”. For a mixed-use line, the business percentage is one of those matters.
How to document a business percentage
No IRS source read for this page prescribes a method for a phone’s business share. This page’s suggestion, which is not an IRS requirement, is to support the percentage with something dated and representative:
- The bills. Keep each month’s statement. It is the proof of what you paid and the cap on what you can claim.
- A sample period. For three typical months, mark business calls, data and hours online from the itemized bill or usage screen, and compute the share.
- A second line. A separate business line or a business-only connection makes the percentage close to 100% and the record trivial.
- The note. One paragraph, dated, saying how you arrived at the percentage and that you apply it each month.
The same logic of representative periods is the one the regulation allows for listed property, which you can read on the mileage log page; here it is a way of supporting a percentage, not a rule that governs phones.
The home landline and the home office
Publication 587 sets one fixed rule for a home: “The basic local telephone service charge, including taxes, for the first telephone landline into your home is a nondeductible personal expense.” It adds “charges for business long-distance phone calls on that line, as well as the cost of a second line into your home used exclusively for business, are deductible business expenses.” Those go on the utilities line of Schedule C, not in the home-office computation; see Schedule C lines 25 and 26 and home office records.
Common mistakes
- Deducting the whole phone bill because it is your business number. If you also use it personally, the personal share is out.
- Deducting the first landline into the home. Publication 587 calls the basic local charge a personal expense.
- Keeping no bills. The bill is the cap on the claim and the base for the percentage.
- Changing the percentage each month with no note. Pick a method, write it down and apply it consistently.
Related: Schedule C lines 25 and 26, mileage log requirements, and Receipts and Expense Records for a One-Person Business.
Sources
- 26 U.S.C. 280F, Limitation on depreciation for luxury automobiles; limitation where certain property used for personal purposes (Cornell LII)
- 26 U.S.C. 262, Personal, living, and family expenses (Cornell LII)
- 26 U.S.C. 6001, Notice or regulations requiring records, statements, and special returns (Cornell LII)
- Treas. Reg. 1.6001-1, Records (Cornell LII, eCFR text)
- IRS Publication 587 (2025), Business Use of Your Home
Read from the IRS documents linked above on November 7, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.