The DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico) has admitted the possibility that company cell phones used exclusively for work are not remuneration in kind:
Assignment of cell phones. If a company assigns to an employee the use of a cell phone with all its accessories for business use, given that the employee can also use it for personal use, the tax authorities require the company to charge him/her a remuneration in kind for this particular use [LIRPF, art. 42].
However, the company can deduct in its income tax the entire cost of the cell phone, since the cost of compensation in kind paid to employees is also a deductible expense.
Prohibited use. However, a company that had given its employees a cell phone after having them sign a document prohibiting them from using it privately (a prohibition that was also included in the policy on the use of company phones), asked the DGT whether in such circumstances it was also necessary to charge its employees for remuneration in kind.
No remuneration in kind. Well, according to the DGT, there is no remuneration in kind when the company provides the worker with the machines, tools and implements of its property necessary to carry out his work.
DGT phone
In these cases, of the DGT and the telephone, if it can be accredited that the workers need to use the cell phone in their work and are prohibited from using it privately, both circumstances are valid evidence to demonstrate that its delivery should not be considered remuneration in kind [DGT V0150-22].
