Businesses influence positive change

According to Kelly Hall, president and CEO of the Longview Chamber of Commerce, April 5th was a good day for businesses across the country. By a vote of 87-12, the Senate passed HR 4, a bill that already passed the House that repeals the 1099 reporting provision contained in last year’s health care law.
That provision would have required all businesses as of 2012 to report all non-credit card purchases totaling $600 or more with any vendor in a tax year to the IRS. The 1099 reporting mandate was used as an unrelated “pay for” in the health care reform law.
At a time when they can least afford it, entities will have to institute new complex record-keeping, data collection, and reporting requirements to track every purchase by vendor and payment method. This provision will dramatically increase accounting costs and could expose businesses to costly and unjustified IRS audits, the US Chamber noted in a key vote letter sent to members of the Senate ahead of the April 5 vote.
It’s estimated that the new regulation will affect 40 million businesses, of which 26 million are sole proprietorships. The requirement is most threatening to small businesses because they lack the resources to track and manage this type of reporting. Chamber member Brian E. Daugbjerg with Longview Scrap & Metal said, “This has been a massive ordeal and I’ve never called or emails senators before this issue came up 2 years ago. I think chamber members will be pleased to see this.”
The Senate passed its version of the 1099 repeal in February as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization legislation. However, the two bills contained different provisions on how to pay for the expected $19 billion shortfall. The Senate has agreed to the House version, which would go after overpaid tax subsidies in the health insurance exchanges from families whose income ended up disqualifying them for the subsidies.
The Longview Chamber worked in concert with the US Chamber of Commerce and NFIB to help create widespread grassroots support for full 1099 repeal, sending lawmakers a letter signed by 2,605 organizations and businesses representing all 50 states and employing millions of American workers.
Tuesday’s success in the Senate is an example of how Chambers of Commerce can collectively influence positive change.  President Hall said, “We will continue to reach out to our members and encourage them to utilize www.LongviewVotes.com to share their concerns with elected officials.  The Chamber will be launching an action alert this week to Congress and asking them to Vote on Measures to Stop EPA Overreach.