Telephone and Fax

This Overheads code records the cost of telephone and fax incurred in running the business. As an expense account, it normally carries a debit balance: debit entries increase the balance (recording new costs) and credit entries decrease it (for example, correcting an error or a refund received).

Real-world examples

Contact centre or customer service operation

VoIP and landline call charges for a dedicated inbound support team are a genuinely material cost, metered per minute alongside line rental. A £2,160 invoice (£1,800 net of VAT) is a debit of £1,800 to 7550 (Telephone and Fax), a debit of £360 to 2201 (Purchase Tax Control Account), and a credit of £2,160 to 2100 (Creditors Control Account).

Small trades business

Most modern trades businesses run entirely on mobile, so 7550 often sits untouched all year — any telephone spend here is really mobile and belongs in 7553 (Mobile Charges) instead. Where a landline exists, it's usually only there for an alarm line or broadband bundle.

An office-based business in a serviced office often sees the same thing from a different angle: telephone and reception answering costs get bundled into the monthly service charge and posted to 7100 (Rent) rather than metered separately, so this code only fills up if the business holds its own line contract.

Commonly confused with

Because code 7551 (Internet Charges) sits right next to this one in Overheads, it's a common mis-posting target. Code 7550 is specifically for telephone and fax, while 7551 covers internet charges — similar in nature, but keeping them separate is what makes the overheads section of your management accounts meaningful rather than a single lumped total.

What a mis-posting here costs you

An error posting to Telephone and Fax won't change total overhead spend, but it will distort the overheads breakdown that's usually reviewed line by line each month to spot cost creep.

Other codes in Overheads