Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Senate Votes to Repeal 1099 Reporting Requirement
The U.S. Senate voted today to repeal the burdensome 1099 reporting requirement that was part of the federal health care law. The vote was 81-17. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce thanks Senator Ben Cardin for voting to repeal. Senator Barbara Mikulski voted against the repeal.
“During a time when America is counting on the business community to generate jobs and grow the economy, it is important that we not force small businesses to divert their precious time and resources to collect volumes of information and fill out mounds of new paperwork,” Maryland Chamber President & CEO Kathy Snyder, CCE said.
The repeal was amended into Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization legislation. Once it passes, the House of Representatives must pass its repeal legislation. Just last month, House Republicans signaled that they would move quickly to repeal. The reintroduced the repeal bill as H.R. 4 (it had been H.R. 144) to signal that it will be among the first bills considered. The bill has 263 co-sponsors, including Maryland Reps. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Dist. 6), Andy Harris (R-Dist. 1) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Dist. 2). In addition, President Barack Obama signaled his support for the repeal during his State of the Union address last week.
Current law generally requires that a Form 1099 be filed for purchases of services over $600 during a calendar year – typically from small contractors and vendors. One of the mechanisms used to pay for the new federal health care law was an expansion of 1099 filing requirements to goods purchased, and purchases from corporations, starting in calendar year 2012. So, beginning in 2012, unless repealed, businesses will have to file a 1099 for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods.
