The Internal Revenue Service has decided it doesn't want to tax personal use of cell phones provided by employers.

The agency created an uproar when it proposed ways to simplify compliance with current tax law, which would treat personal use of work-supplied cell phones as taxable income.

That law, said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman is "burdensome, poorly understood by taxpayers and difficult for the IRS to administer consistently." To simplify compliance, the IRS sought comment on several options, included treating 25 percent of the cell phone's use as personal use.

That created an uproar, and some reports "incorrectly implied that the IRS is ‘cracking down' on employee use of employer-provided cell phones," Shulman said.

In response, the IRS and Treasury Department have asked Congress "to make clear that there will be no tax consequence to employers or employees for personal use of work-related devices such as cell phones provided by employers," Shulman said.

"The passage of time, advances in technology and the nature of communications in the modern workplace have rendered this law obsolete," he said.

Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, said Congress "should quickly follow Commissioner Shulman's recommendation, and we commend him on his action."

"The 1989 law is outdated, and does not reflect the reality of business or the nature of communication today," Kerrigan said. "There is no reason why Congress can't quickly act to put this relic to rest."

The House passed legislation last year to repeal the cell-phone tax, but it failed to pass the Senate.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a subcommittee chairman on the House Ways and Means Committee, said the law should be repealed.

"Cell phones and BlackBerrys are a part of the modern workplace, where employees are always on call," Lewis said.