Like me, you probably thought running a small business was a little too easy

[Tom]

Health care law's hidden tax change to launch 1099 avalanche - May. 5, 2010

mandates that beginning in 2012 all companies will have to issue 1099 tax forms not just to contract workers but to any individual or corporation from which they buy more than $600 in goods or services in a tax year.

The stealth change radically alters the nature of 1099s and means businesses will have to issue millions of new tax documents each year.

But under the new rules, if a freelance designer buys a new iMac from the Apple Store, they'll have to send Apple a 1099. A laundromat that buys soap each week from a local distributor will have to send the supplier a 1099 at the end of the year tallying up their purchases.

Taken together, the two seemingly small changes will require millions of additional forms to be sent out.

"It's a pretty heavy administrative burden," particularly for small businesses without large in-house accounting staffs, says Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Eliminating the goods exemption could launch an avalanche of paperwork, he says: "If you cater a lunch for other businesses every Wednesday, say, that's a lot of information to keep track of throughout the year."

Marianne Couch, a principal with the Cokala Tax Group in Michigan and former chair of a citizen advisory group to the IRS on small business and self-employed tax issues, thinks the bigger headache will be data collection: gathering names and taxpayer identification numbers for every payee and vendor that you do business with.

Luckily, Congress just increased the degree of difficulty 10-fold. I'm glad. It's been a ****ing cakewalk so far.

[zebulus]

I say we move to Mexico

[mmuhlenkamp]

Canada is probably a better choice, there's kind of a drug war going on in Mexico right now.

This is exactly why I haven't tried very hard in the freelance department. Taxes are easy if I just have to deal with my income from my 8-5 job.

[Jake]

Can you imagine a place Costco and Walmart getting millions of 1099's and making sure no one exaggerates on what they spent.

[groovyone]

That is insane!

[photonewb]

software, camera, lenses, flashes...sheesh

I guess Adobe and places like Amazon and B&H better get ready for that

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

What about e-bay? Or any on-line retailer that sells something more than penny ante stuff, I think someone royally messed up and maybe this will get fixed.

[d2creative]

Ya, i'll believe it when i see it. And see it enforced.

[andyz]

Perhaps this will keep the USPS afloat. No e-filing. And hello Quicken.

[JohnT]

Just like anything where the government gets too involved; it just makes things more difficult.

More power to the people. Less power to the government!

[d2creative]

oh boy. Here we go.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Obama and his cronies hate capitalism and free enterprise (what socialist doesn't) and will do anything in their power to make it difficult, or more difficult, to own and run a business.

Well there is that 35 Billion in tax cuts for small businesses in the same bill.....wait a minute, we cant talk like this here! You are setting a trap!

EDIT: Billion not million.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by thejakestir

Well there is that 35million in tax cuts for small businesses in the same bill.....wait a minute, we cant talk like this here! You are setting a trap!

Sometimes, I just can't help myself.

[texkam]

I had green Jello for dinner.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by texkam

I had green Jello for dinner.

Spending beyond your means, again?