Chicago Association for Research and Education in Science
CELL PHONE/DEVICE POLICY

This policy allows the Chicago Association for Research and Education in Science (CARES) to meet IRS regulations and its fiduciary responsibility by providing guidelines (an IRS accountable plan) for reimbursement for the use of personally-owned cellular devices (phones, PDAs, etc.) for business purposes (VA research or education).

The IRS considers any non-salary payments/reimbursements to both employees and non-employees in the context of an IRS accountable plan. Under an IRS accountable plan, if an expense is adequately documented as business-related, the organization may legitimately reimburse the claimant without the payment being viewed by the IRS as taxable income.

CARES will not purchase, lease or contract for cellular devices or service. However, investigators and employees may submit documented, business-related cell phone/device expenses to CARES for reimbursement when using personally-owned cellular devices for business.

The use of cellular devices rather than standard and less expensive means of communications such as landlines, pagers or email on laptop or desktop computers, is discouraged. For example, the use of a cellular phone while out of the office but still on site would, except in an emergency, be considered a costly convenience and is discouraged.

Process

1. The person claiming reimbursement must clearly identify each specific call on the bill for which reimbursement is claimed.
2. Business calls will be calculated as a percentage of the cost of total calls and the claimant will be reimbursed the resultant proportion of the bill not to exceed $50.00 (fifty dollars) per month.
3. The marked-up bill is to be submitted to CARES along with the standard “Request for Supplies/Services/Equipment” form upon which the amount of reimbursement being requested has been included.
4. The justification section of the form will include the following statement, “I hereby certify that the reimbursement being claimed for cellular device expense is directly related to VA research and/or education.”
5. The claimant must sign and date the form.
6. An IRS Form 1099 will not be issued to the claimant or the Internal Revenue Service but reimbursements will be tracked and provided to the IRS upon request.