No camera phones allowed in some IRS centers

California CPA, May, 2005

CPAs should be aware that the next time they visit their local IRS center, they may have to leave their cell phone at home.

Since many cell phones include a camera function, federal buildings are either collecting the phones at the door in coat-check style or telling people to arrive without their cell phones.

The camera-phone ban does not extend to every IRS office, however, but only to those which are housed in federal buildings. For instance, the IRS center in San Jose is not housed in a federal building, but the centers in San Francisco and Oakland are.