Upgrading a personal mobile phone, paying a lump sum up front for a new handset

[captainham]

...in the case upgrading is a cheaper way overall to get the handset.

Your situation might be different, but whenever I have totted up the SIM-free route vs subsidised phone route in the past, SIM-free has always worked out cheaper; so much so that it's a no-brainer for me now, I don't even bother to work it out.

Having said that, I love my Nexus phones which you can buy new from Google for a relative pittance, but I imagine a comparison with an iPhone may not come out so strongly in favour of SIM-free as they cost a bloomin' fortune (although I still bet that SIM-free is worth it even then).

[Scruff]

The old handset has been passed on to the wife which, I suspect, is probably against one HMRC rule or another although as she is now company secretary I think I can safely give her the old handset under the same "one handset per employee" rule.

Your Company Secretary is not an employee, by default, unless you make her one?

You are free to dispose of the old handset as you wish, provided that it was put through your books as an expense, as opposed to having been capitalised and then depreciated.

[Craig at Nixon Williams]

It's not (much) different to the usual advice I see when people have just set up a LtdCo for first time and subsequently sell assets (such as mobile phone) to LtdCo. The usual advice I see in those cases is to get a second-hand value from ebay, but in your case it's a brand spanking new phone which is why I suggested Amazon (or similar).

Note that if you sell an asset to your company which has previously been owned by you personally then you will not be able to claim AIA on it. See the below from HMRC's website:

Any new expenditure on plant and machinery assets bought after 1 April 2008 for Corporation Tax, or 6 April 2008 for Income Tax qualifies for AIA, apart from these exceptions:

• cars - see the section below on capital allowances on cars
• plant and machinery previously used for another purpose, for example, a computer used at home and introduced into your business
• plant and machinery gifted to your business
• expenditure incurred in the accounting period in which your business ceases

[captainham]

Note that if you sell an asset to your company which has previously been owned by you personally then you will not be able to claim AIA on it. See the below from HMRC's website:

Thanks Craig, didn't know that. Luckily I've never done that myself then!

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Your Company Secretary is not an employee, by default, unless you make her one?

You are free to dispose of the old handset as you wish, provided that it was put through your books as an expense, as opposed to having been capitalised and then depreciated.

I capitalise my phone purchases. None of them have been treated as being disposed as they haven't been sold on (although all but my current handset are now fully depreciated). They remain company assets. That said, as an iOS developer, having an older handset as a test device is useful.

The company secretary isn't an employee by default but neither is a director - I don't have an employment contract. The mobile handset rule applies to company officers as much as employees AFAIK.

Either way, very unlikely to be challenged given that the company isn't exactly going out and spending extra money on a handset for her, its being cost efficient and giving her an unused one. Having said that, I don't think there would be an issue if MyCo decided to buy a new mobile handset for both of us (but it won't be as MyCo is tight with it's money and doesn't think she needs one ).