You know that new 1099 reporting requirement looming large over companies everywhere? There’s new hope you may escape this crushing task.
As you begin work on this year’s 1099s you probably can’t help but start dreading 2012’s reporting – when you’ll have to issue a 1099-MISC to every vendor your company buys more than $600 in goods or services from.
That’s what’s in store under a revenue-raising provision out of the health reform law.
Of course, you know what a nightmare that will be:
- flagging every vendor once it crosses the $600 threshold
- wrestling taxpayer ID or employer ID numbers out of all of those suppliers, and ultimately
- filing the forms for every one of them.
It’s no wonder business advocacy groups have taken up the cause, saying the new law just places too much of a burden on companies, particularly smaller ones.
And now you have some reason to be optimistic those concerns haven’t fallen on deaf ears.
A new bill was just introduced in the Senate to repeal the new information reporting requirement. The text of the bill has yet to be released, but the upshot is clear: This is one regulatory burden that’s just too much to bear.
This may be one message that sinks in. President Obama himself recently acknowledged in a press conference that this 1099 requirement may in fact have to be repealed.
But before you get too excited, don’t forget: The bill still has to make it through both houses of Congress and then be signed by the president, even if he is open to it. And you know how quickly the government moves!
Of course, there’s still time. The new law impacts payments your company makes after Dec. 31, 2011. So Washington insiders say they’ll take their time on this issue. But considering the enormous monkey wrench this would throw into your A/P process, you’ll certainly want a reprieve as soon as possible.
We’ll keep you posted on the bill’s progress every step of the way.