Too funny ...
The bill likely comes bundled, and when she went to expense her Internet connection for allowance/expense purposes, she included various portions of her cable bill. Not good. Furthermore, now it will be interesting to see if they get her download records to see if he downloaded any porn on their Internet connection. If so, it could invalidate part or all of her Internet connection allowance/expense for "business purposes," as it was used for "personal."
As a self-employed person, I can write-off a lot of things. But I don't. I don't write-off my Internet connection. And I only write off a portion of my cell phone and mobile 3G card bill. I don't write off anything that could be considered "personal." I even have personal and business computers, including two laptops (one expensed, one not and personal). If I have to be at a conference, I neither write off my wife's plane ticket if she joins me, nor any days at the hotel that were not associated with the conference (such as a Sunday if the conference ended on Saturday).
Why people open themselves up to audits with petty, small expenses is beyond me. Sure, I probably pay an extra $5,000-10,000/year in federal income taxes, more than the average American family does in total, just because I'm very anal with my expenses and don't write them off. But is it really worth it to do so? That's what I always ask myself. I use standard deductions, standard rates and book cheap (but safe) cars, hotels and flights.
So many employees and government workers rape both their companies and constituents by using expenses as a means to personal gratification. In this case, it was accidental. Frankly, this is petty. It was stupid, but petty. How many times do government workers stay at Hyatt Regencies, InterContinental Hotels and the like? Me, when I'm doing anything that has a billable expense to the government, you'll see me at the Motel 6 and Super 8, maybe a Quality Inn / Sleep Inn if the formers are in bad areas. Maybe they should crack down on those wastes.
Like the USPS buying $300K to multi-million dollar homes for relocated employees, and selling them off at an average loss of over $50K/home.
