NAHB is asking our members and their accounting and tax professional contacts to submit comments and recommendations on new information reporting requirements from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that will go into effect in 2012. The change, which was included in recently enacted healthcare reform legislation, is expected to increase the paperwork requirements of most businesses across the country. The new law creates a whole new class of transactions that must be reported to the agency by requiring that all businesses file information returns, generally using IRS Form 1099, for entities to which they made payments of more than $600 in a given year.
NAHB will be submitting comments on behalf of the residential construction sector to the Treasury Department and IRS later this month, and making technical recommendations to reduce the rule’s administrative burden. Submissions from our members will be included in NAHB’s statement, so please e-mail your suggested technical recommendations to Robert Dietz at rdietz@nahb.org. You can also contact him at 800-368-5242, x8285.
NAHB has opposed this provision as a costly and unfair administrative burden, particularly for small businesses, that will be ineffective in raising government revenue. We are also participating in a broad coalition of pro-business organizations that is working to repeal the requirement. Legislation to accomplish this goal has been introduced in the House and Senate under the name of the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act. In the Senate, the latest information indicates that legislation with a series of amendments including a modified version to repeal the expanded 1099 filing requirements will be voted on Sept. 14 after members return from August recess.
Please contact your Senators and Congressman (contact links below) and encourage them to support legislation which repeals the expanded 1099 requirements. Some of the points you may want to include in your contact:
-The American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of Home Builders support repealing the requirement.
-The 1099 requirement creates a whole new class of transactions that must be reported to the agency by requiring that all businesses file information returns, generally using IRS Form 1099, for entities to which they made payments of more than $600 in a given year. This will significantly increase the paperwork burden on small businesses, already suffering from personnel cuts and budget shortfalls.
-The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) estimates that on average, small businesses already spend more than $74 per hour on meeting their compliance obligations, which represents the most expensive paperwork burden that the federal government imposes on small business owners. Small business owners typically lack in-house finance departments like most large businesses, leaving the additional paperwork burden to be handled by the owner or outsourced to an accounting firm – both of which take time and resources that could be used to reinvest and grow their business.
300 S. Jefferson, Suite 401
Springfield, MO 65806
(417) 864-8258
2740 B E. Sunshine
