Does Your Business Need a Land Line?

If you run a small business from home, you might wonder if you need a land line or if you can simply use your cell phone as the contact number. While you probably don't want another expense, especially when you are just starting out, having a land line for your business can be beneficial for a number of reasons.

Taxes

If you would like to claim the cost of your phone as a business expense on your taxes, you must prove that the phone was used for business purposes only. The only other choice is to tediously separate how often the phone was used for business and how often it was used for personal use. I don't know about you, but that is not how I want to spend my time.

Privacy

If you put your personal phone number on the web as a way to contact you regarding your business, you must expect that your personal phone number will be published in perhaps hundreds of websites that you never knew about or authorized thanks to web crawlers. One small business owner, Barbara Brabac, discovered when she attempted to change her work phone number that her number was listed on 3,000 websites, the majority of which she had not authorized. Do you want your personal number all over the web?

Professionalism

If you have your cell phone number as your business number and you are a mom to small children, there are bound to be times when you shouldn't answer the phone, such as when your child is having a temper tantrum or you are cheering in the stands at your child's basketball game, for instance. Yet, you probably hate to miss the call. Having a land line largely eliminates this conflict.

There are benefits to having a land line for your home based business, but if the cost worries you, there are ways to get the line for less money.

1.  Bundle with your internet provider. Often, if you bundle your business line with your Internet provider, you may get a significant discount.

2.  Get a VOIP line. VOIPs are significantly cheaper than traditional land lines. Some VOIPs that you may have heard of include Magic Jack and Ooma. (Basic Ooma service begins at $3.99, but if you include other services like caller ID, the rate may be approximately $12.)

If you would like to claim your business phone line on your taxes and want to maintain your privacy on the Internet, a land line is a good investment.  Do you think a land line is necessary for a home based business?