Senate Rejects 1099 Tax Changes

The Senate in a series of procedural votes chose not to move forward on two amendments that sought to completely or partially repeal a new tax reporting provision in the new health reform law.

Respective amendments offered by Sens. Mike Johanns, R-Nebraska, and Bill Nelson, D-Florida, each sought a different solution for paring down the health reform law’s 1099 provision, which in 2012 will require any business that purchases more than $600 worth of goods or services from another business to submit a 1099 tax form to the Internal Revenue Service.

“Even the White House now admits they went too far and their mandate will hurt small businesses,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, who supported Johanns’ amendment to completely repeal the reporting requirement.

Nelson, who had suggested exempting businesses with 25 or fewer employees from the requirement, argued that Johanns’ approach would “gut the reform bill” in order to pay for the repeal.

Neither amendment achieved the 60 votes necessary to proceed to a final vote for possible inclusion in the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010, which is still under consideration in the Senate.  

Filed by Jennifer Lubell of Modern Healthcare, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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