SBA Supports Bill to Repeal “Burdensome” 1099 Filing Requirements

The head of the U.S. Small Business Administration called for the repeal of a vast expansion of Form 1099 filing requirements scheduled to begin in 2012.

In an open letter to small business owners, SBA Administrator Karen Mills repeated President Barack Obama’s November 3 statements that the expanded requirement for small businesses to report all transactions greater than $600 is “burdensome,” and adds up to “too much paperwork, too much filing.” The new reporting requirement was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, which was passed in March.

Mills said the SBA and the Obama administration support the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act, S. 3946, introduced by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The measure would repeal the expanded reporting requirement.

“The unintended consequence of a potential paperwork burden resulting from this provision quickly came to light, and we immediately began working across the Administration to reduce the burden of these potential future reporting requirements,” Mills said in her letter. She also said the repeal of the 1099 provision “will not adversely affect the [health care reform act].”

In letters to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the AICPA on November 16 expressed its concerns about the compliance burdens being placed on businesses by the expanded Form 1099 information reporting requirements scheduled to take effect in 2012. The AICPA also pushed for repeal of expanded information reporting related to rental property owners enacted as part of the Small Business Jobs Act, P.L. 111-240.

The letters, signed by Patricia Thompson, CPA, chair of the AICPA’s Tax Executive Committee, urge Congress to repeal both new requirements.