Senate approves measure to repeal health law's 1099 reporting provision

The repeal measure will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The Washington Post: Senate Votes To Repeal Health-Care Law's 1099 Tax-Reporting Provision, Sending Bill To Obama
The Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to repeal the health care law's 1099 tax-reporting provision, ending nearly a year's worth of efforts to do away with one of its most unpopular requirements. The repeal measure, which passed the House last month, now goes to President Obama for his signature (Sonmez, 4/5).

The Associated Press: Congress Votes To Repeal Small Part Of Health Law
Congress sent the White House its first rollback of last year's health care law Tuesday, a bipartisan repeal of a burdensome tax reporting requirement that's widely unpopular with businesses. Even President Barack Obama is eager to see it gone. The Senate voted 87 to 12 to repeal the filing requirement, which would have forced millions of businesses to file tax forms for every vendor selling them more than $600 in goods each year, starting in 2012. The filing requirement is unrelated to health care. However, it would have been used to pay for part of the new health law (4/5).

Politico: Senate Finally Votes To Repeal 1099 Measure In Health Care Reform Law
The Senate on Tuesday voted to repeal the health care overhaul's 1099 tax reporting requirements, finally ending months of debate and votes over a provision that, by the end, had few defenders (Haberkorn, 4/5).

Los Angeles Times: Tax Rule That Would've Hurt Small Business Is Repealed
Congress has repealed a tax provision that small businesses said would have buried them in paperwork and forced them to pay for hours of extra accounting services. The provision, passed last year as a way to raise money to pay for health care reform, would have forced all businesses to file special tax forms to report anyone with whom they did more than $600 worth of business in a given year (Bernstein, 4/6).

CNN: Senate Sends Repeal Of Hated Tax Provision To Obama
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, responding to passage of the legislation, said the administration is "open to working with Republicans and Democrats to improve the health reform law." "We are pleased Congress has acted to correct a flaw that placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses," Carney said in a written statement. "And the administration remains eager to work with anyone with ideas about how we can make health care better or more affordable for all Americans" (Barrett, 4/5).

MarketWatch: Senate Votes To Kill Detested Small-Business Tax Law
Small businesses made repeal of the provision their No. 1 priority, complaining it would be very costly and time consuming to comply with. Even the main lobby for accountants opposed the 1099 provision despite the likelihood it would have increased their business. The provision was quietly slipped into the original health care bill as a way to deter tax fraud among small businesses that underreport income. It was expected to generate around $20 billion in federal revenue over the next decade, most of which was to be used to help pay for Obama's health care plan (Bartash, 4/5).

National Journal: Senate Passes Repeal Of Hated Health Tax Provision
The bill now heads to President Obama's desk. The president does not like how Congress covered the cost of the 1099 repeal, but he did not threaten to veto the bill. An alternative amendment from Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., fell 41-58. Menendez's amendment would have undone a requirement that lower-income people who misreport their income pay back health insurance exchange subsidies, if this offset is found to increase the cost of health care for small businesses (McCarthy, 4/5).

Politico Pro: 1099: It's Not Over Yet
What would Congress do without 1099? No need to fret, it looks like Tuesday's vote is not the end of the issue after all. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) plans to reintroduce his amendment to require an HHS study on the tax subsidy recapture in the 1099 repeal bill. He told Politico that he hopes the amendment can pass separately from the 1099 repeal bill. "I think there was a stampede for the 1099," he told Politico. "Nobody wanted to be seen as impeding that, so I hope we have a better opportunity to get broader support" (Haberkorn, 4/6).