Company smartphone as a tax-free benefit.

Private use of company-owned telecommunications equipment by employees is tax-free — including full private use and shared use with family members. The device stays on the employer's balance sheet; the provision creates no taxable benefit and no social contributions.

The paragraph has been in force in Germany since 2000, but most mid-sized companies do not use it — because nobody builds the operational side internally (device portfolio, employee portal, ordering, lifecycle, audit-proof documentation).

An iPhone 15 retails at around €900 gross. Bought privately, the employee pays those €900 out of net income — after tax and social contributions. Under the §3 Nr. 45 scheme, the company provides the device tax-free; in exchange, the employee agrees to a corresponding gross salary reduction (salary conversion).

Net effect at a marginal tax rate of ~40 %: the employee effectively pays around €540 instead of €900. For the company, total personnel cost stays flat — the converted gross salary covers the cost of the device provision.

Comms Connect no longer runs the benefit program itself. For companies with concrete interest we refer to the specialist partnerjobhandy.io — setup, employee portal, order handling, tax mechanics and lifecycle sit fully on their side.

The advantage for you: one operator that runs exclusively this program, with matching depth on the operational and tax details. The advantage for us: we keep focus on ICT contract optimization, device procurement and connectivity.