Blackberry tax was just a spin story for Government

Link:
HMRC poo-poos tax on BlackBerries | The Register

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) today dismissed claims in The Sun and The Times that changes to employee benefit rules mean BlackBerries are likely to be taxed as a personal benefit.

A spokesman for HMRC was blunt: “It’s garbage.”

He explained: “If an employer loans a BlackBerry to an employee so they can do their job there is no tax implication. And the suggestion that we are going to go around counting people’s emails is ludicrous – we’ve got bigger and more important things to do.”

Steve caught this in The Register this morning. Obviously the story was one of those float-it-out-there, and see-how-people-react on a Thursday, then give the Tax authorities the opportunity to step in and look good with the ‘it’s garbage’ message on a Monday. Smart!