Clarification of the University of Minnesota Cellular Phone Policy

The University recognizes that a cell phone, in some cases, may aid an employee in his or her employment as well as benefit the employee’s unit.

Administrative units are responsible for determining when an employee needs to conduct University business using a cell phone in order to fulfill job responsibilities.

Cell phone contracts may be structured in two ways: 1) University as the billing entity or 2) University employee as the billing entity.

1) University as Billing Entity

The University’s exemption from federal excise tax and Minnesota sales tax presumes that cell phone are intended for business and not personal use. Therefore, cell phone purchases and contracts, where the University of Minnesota is the official billing entity, should be approved only for those situations where the University intends for the phone to be used primarily for University business.

For purposes of this policy, the term “primarily for University business” means that at least 85% of the phone use, on average, is directly for University business. Fifteen percent or less phone use for personal reasons will be considered incidental personal use. The determination of business phone use should be as a percentage of total minutes of actual use, not actual number of calls or associated cost of service.

The senior administrative official in an employee’s college or administrative unit must approve all cellular phone purchases and contracts, where the University of Minnesota is the official billing entity. Cellular phone contracts should be selected to reflect the level of business use. For example, when an employee’s business use will average 60 minutes per month, a 60-minute per month contract should be selected. Cellular billing should be monitored monthly to confirm University vs. personal usage. Contracts should be reviewed on an annual basis and adjusted, as necessary, to reflect the average business use.

If an employee makes occasional personal calls that result in additional charges to the University, the employee should reimburse the University by check for the related charges.

2) Employee as Billing Entity

In situations where an employee will combine University and non-University business cell phone usage, the employee should be established as the billing entity. A University employee may not, however, benefit from the University’s federal excise tax exemption or Minnesota sales tax exemption, not even on the portion of calling activity that relates to University business.

For purposes of this policy, University employees should purchase their own cell phones and establish themselves as the billing entity when personal usage, on average, will be 15% or more of total cell phone usage.

University employees may submit a reimbursement request for business-related calls, excluding any related federal excise tax or Minnesota sales tax. An employee must adequately justify the use of a personal cell phone for University business purposes, and an employee’s supervisor must approve the reimbursement request.

Business vs. Personal Use of Cellular Phones

The University will not reimburse costs allocable to personal use. Routine calls home during the commute between work and home will generally be considered personal calls.

General Information

This policy attempts to reduce unnecessary transaction costs to the University. In this regard, employees are encourage to submit cellular phone reimbursement requests with other employee business expense reimbursement requests to streamline reimbursement processing.

The University discourages use of a cellular phone when a desktop phone could be used, due to the reduction of service minutes otherwise available for University business and unnecessary costs to the institution.

The principles of this policy are applicable to pagers as well as cellular phones.

Click on the following for quick access:

Memo from the Dean and Director
Extension Service Policy on Cellular Phones
Procedures for Requesting a Cellular Phone
Request Form
Usage Worksheet (University is Billing Agent)
Usage Worksheet (Employee is Billing Agent)

For questions about these forms, processes or policies, please call 612/624-2753, email acct@extension.umn.edu, or fax 612/624-1785.

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