Lamar Whitman Posts

Successful small businesses that grow into medium-sized and large businesses are the key to this country’s future, President Barack Obama told an Ohio audience last week at the “Winning the Future Forum on Small Business”. “When our small businesses do well, America does well,” Obama said.  Standing at the intersection of the small business community and healthcare information technology (HIT), many of our nation’s small IT firms will continue to be c ...

In Illinois, legislation that would shut down many small internet businesses has been passed by both houses and sits on the governor's desk for signature. Dubbed the Amazon Tax, the new law would require any non-Illinois seller to collect Illinois sales tax if that seller acquires customers through a link on the Internet website of the Illinois business. This requirement applies even ‘though the out-of-state business has no other presence in the state. We refer to this emerging concept as “virtu ...

Unless the 1099 reporting requirement is repealed, beginning in 2012, any business that pays a single vendor $600 or more for goods or services during a year would be required to issue a Form 1099-MISC to that vendor, and this form also must be filed it with the IRS.  We have has worked consistently with other technology associations  to encourage Congress to repeal this onerous provision. On February 17, the Senate voted to repeal the new 1099 reporting requirement; S.223 passed by a vote of 87 ...

Darrell Issa (CA-49), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a report this week detailing the committee’s findings on regulations that impede job creation.  This purpose of this report was to identify regulations that hinder job growth, with a particular focus on the concerns of small businesses. Issa’s committee has significant power to influence changes in federal government regulations and Executive Branch transparency.  Upon taking office last month, Chairman Iss ...

For the House’s Small Business Committee hearing held on February 9, we submitted testimony entitled “Buried in Paperwork: A 1099 Update”.  During the hearing, committee members voiced bi-partisan support for repeal of the new 1099 requirement; the only question of discussion was how to “pay for” the repeal.  But the bottom line seems to be that repeal is viewed as more important than the philosophical issue of how to pay for it. In another positive development, last week the Senate agreed to an ...

The tax bill sailed through both the Senate and House during the lame duck session and was signed into law on December 17.  The “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010” is a $859 billion bill that extends the Bush tax cuts for two years and sets the estate tax at 35 percent for estates exceeding $5 million through 2012. For many businesses, a big disappointment was Congress’ failure to use this bill to repeal the onerous Form 1099 reporting requirement, ...

A provision included in the health care reform legislation will impose new costly compliance requirements for all businesses beginning in 2012.  While it applies to all businesses, it has a disproportionately negative effect on small businesses. Under this new requirement, any business that pays a single vendor $600 or more for goods or services annually must issue a Form 1099-MISC to that vendor, and this form must also be filed it with IRS.  If a business hires an accounting firm to prepare it ...

Beginning in 2011, qualifying heath care providers will become entitled to payments as high as $44,000 over a five-year period as an incentive to implement meaningful use of electronic health records.  Since the Republican takeover of the House, some have expressed concern about whether funding for health information technology (HIT) is in jeopardy.  We believe these concerns are unfounded and that funding will remain intact.   HIT and health care reform are completely different ...

On Tuesday, December 7, the Administration released its “Fact Sheet on the Framework Agreement on Middle Class Tax Cuts and Unemployment Insurance.”  Conspicuously absent was a provision to repeal the new and onerous Form 1099 reporting requirement – which will not go into effect until 2012.The basic concepts of the agreement are as follows:Extended for 13 months: Unemployment benefits at current levelsExtended for 2 years: Existing income tax rates R&D tax credit Child Tax Credit of $1,000 ...

As you probably know, beginning in 2011, qualifying heath care providers will become entitled to payments of as high as $44,000 over a five-year period as an incentive to implement meaningful use of electronic health records.   Since the Republican takeover of the House last week, some have expressed concern about whether HIT funding is in jeopardy.   We believe these concerns are unfounded and that funding will begin in 2011 for the adoption of meaningful use of electronic h ...