Baucus Pushes to Pass 1099 Reporting Repeal

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., urged the Senate on Wednesday to pass legislation to eliminate the expanded 1099 reporting requirements for businesses in the health care reform bill. 

Eliminating the bookkeeping and filing requirements would free up resources for small businesses to grow and create jobs, he argued.  Baucus asked for unanimous consent in the Senate to eliminate the additional reporting requirements for small businesses during the debate over extending the Bush-era tax cut rates and unemployment benefits, but members objected to passing the measures in the midst of that process.  

“Small-business owners want us to repeal Form 1099 reporting requirements so they have additional resources to grow their businesses and hire new workers,” said Baucus. “Today we should have – and could have – delivered the paperwork relief small businesses need.  Eliminating these paperwork requirements is a simple, common-sense idea that senators on both sides of the aisle support and it is deeply disappointing to see partisanship stand in the way of progress for small-business owners.” 

Baucus has been pushing to repeal the new requirements for small businesses to report payments made for goods and services using 1099-MISC forms. A total of 95 senators have supported repealing the 1099 reporting requirements in the past.  Small-business owners have expressed concern that the resources required in January 2012 to complete the forms may be more than they can accommodate. 

In November, Baucus introduced legislation to repeal the requirements, but the bill failed to pass (see Senate Again Fails to Repeal 1099 Requirements).

Repealing the requirements this year would give small-business owners the certainty of knowing they do not have to prepare to implement these new recordkeeping and recording provisions in 2012, Baucus noted.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Tax practice Finance
MORE FROM ACCOUNTING TODAY