Letter on Amendments Offered by Senator Mike Johanns and Senator Max Baucus to S. 510

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, strongly supports the amendments offered by Senator Mike Johanns and Senator Max Baucus to S. 510, the “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009,” which would repeal Section 9006 of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA), usually referred to as the 1099 reporting mandate.

Both the Johanns amendment and the Baucus amendment would fully repeal the 1099 reporting mandate in the recently enacted healthcare law. This mandate, if not repealed, will force more than 40 million entities, including governments, nonprofits, and both small and large businesses, to comply with onerous data collection and IRS information filing burdens on virtually all noncredit card purchases totaling $600 or more with any vendor in a tax year. At a time when they can least afford it, entities will have to institute new complex record-keeping, data collection and reporting requirements to track every purchase by vendor and payment method. This provision will dramatically increase accounting costs and could expose businesses to costly and unjustified audits by the IRS.

The Chamber urges you to support efforts to repeal the 1099 mandate as part of the “FDA Food SafetyModernization Act of 2009.” The Chamber may consider including votes on, or in relation to, the Johanns and the Baucus amendments to S. 510 in our annual How They Voted scorecard.

Sincerely,
R. Bruce Josten