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In a 46-52 vote, lawmakers killed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) that would have saved businesses and nonprofit groups from having to report an array of small and medium-sized purchases to the IRS.
Deep in the health law is a requirement that businesses file tax forms called 1099s with the Internal Revenue Service for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods. Business groups say it would create a paperwork nightmare for more than 40 million companies as they struggle to keep going in a weak economy.
The White House is backing a proposal by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., to exempt firms with 25 or fewer workers and raise the reporting threshold to $5,000 for the rest. But Nelson’s amendment failed a 60-vote procedural test 56-42. Another vote did not pass at 46-52, an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., that would have repealed the reporting requirement.
Although majorities in both the House and Senate are now on record opposing the current 1099 reporting requirement, lawmakers disagree over whether to repeal or merely modify it, and how to plug a revenue gap that could be as large as $19 billion over ten years, depending on the approach Congress chooses.
