Stealth IRS changes mean millions of new tax forms
The massive expansion of requirements for businesses to file 1099 tax forms that was hidden in the 2,409-page health reform bill took many by surprise when it came to light last month.
Why is this a surprise to anyone? The only possible reason why the congress and the senate could have for rushing the passage of the monstrous 2409 page Health Care Deform Bill before any one had a chance to read and understand it, is because they didn't want anyone to find out how little the bill had to do with real reform, and how much was given over to outrageous theft of our freedom.
The Health Care Deform bill, which Barack Hussein Obama and the rest of the socialist ruling class untruthfully (you lie) proclaimed is so critical for the health care of the nation, is filled with many land mines which are designed to destroy the ability of businesses to make a profit. If these and other booby traps don't force more businesses to close, they will at least have the beneficial effect of forcing any existing business to raise their prices to pay for the added administrative burden and cost of preparing burdensome paperwork to be allowed to stay in business and provide employment for other citizens.
The 1099 changes attached to the health care reform bill are another kettle of fish. These massively expand the requirements for filing the "1099-Misc" form, which companies use for recording payments to freelance workers and other individual service providers. Until now, payments to corporations have been exempt from 1099 rules, as have payments for the purchase of goods.
Starting in 2012, that changes. All business payments or purchases that exceed $600 in a calendar year will need to be accompanied by a 1099 filing. That means obtaining the taxpayer ID number of the individual or corporation you're making the payment to -- even if it's a giant retailer like Staples or Best Buy -- at the time of the transaction, or else facing IRS penalties.
Some people might ask, what does filing hundreds of additional forms have do with Health Care Deform. The correct answer is, much like all the other provisions hidden in the Health Care Deform bill, nothing. Just part of the hidden government power grab that will require the government to hire thousands of additional Infernal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) agents to handle the hundreds / thousands / millions of additional forms that businesses will be required to file for the privilege of working to pay more of their hard earned money to the government.
How did this sweeping provision end up hidden in the health reform bill?
Easy. Since the entire legislative body was discouraged from reading and understanding the contents of the Health Care Deform bill, these and other riders were tacked onto a bill that couldn't fail, for a country that doesn't want to succeed. But the real question is, how many more tax increases and business killing provisions were buried in the Health Care Deform act. The governments answer, is pass the bill and find out. Unfortunately for the citizens of the United States, we are just beginning to find out how grievously the federal government has trampled the freedom and prosperity of the citizens of the United States.
Henschke's group had previously surveyed its members and learned that they average 10 filings a year of 1099 forms, each of which takes about half an hour to prepare. That's in line with the GAO report, which found that a typical small business spent between three and five hours per year filing 1099s.
But SMC's survey found that extending 1099s just to services purchased from corporations would push that number to at least 200 filings per year for a typical small business -- adding an estimated $6,000 to the cost of preparing the average tax return. And that's without even accounting for the requirement that 1099s be filed for purchases of goods, a provision that Henschke's group didn't see coming when it conducted its survey last year.
Let's try to put this into perspective. The federal government (low) estimates are that it takes 1/2 an hour to prepare 1 1099. The average small business will go from preparing 10 1099s, taking about 5 hours to prepare, to preparing 200 1099s taking about 100 hours to prepare. At 40 hours per week, that means that 2 1/2 weeks per year will be spent preparing paperwork. This is just for the 1099s. All the hours and days to prepare and file other government required paperwork is still required.
But I think I am beginning to see what the government has in mind. And the real solution the government is looking for. Some day, in the not so distant future, all businesses will be shut down, and the former owners will be required to spend all the rest of their days filling out paperwork explaining why they were in business, why they closed the business, why they hired people to work, ... why they should be allowed to continue to live and pollute the planet with their carbon dioxide pollution from their breathing. Everybody else will be a government employee, armed and dangerous, going door to door, shutting down all businesses. After all, how dare any business sully the pristine workers paradise that Barack Hussein Obama and the rest of the socialist ruling class is creating for all the rest of us.
