ObamaCare's stealth assault on small business

An obscure provision in the new health-care law will require entrepreneurs to spend a great deal more time filling out tax forms. It’s not the sort of change that should have been sneaked through

David Frum

Small-business owners face a world of troubles these days: a weak economy, impending health-care mandates, the prospect of higher taxes.

But one concern you hear about more and more is a huge new expansion in their IRS reporting requirements — a paperwork nightmare that will commence in 2012.

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They have reason to be afraid. Right now, business owners file two forms when they employ people: a W-2 for employees and a 1099 for freelance contractors. A typical small business files 10 such forms, at a cost of 3–5 hours of time per year.

Embedded in the new health-care law, however, is a staggering requirement: using a new form — the 1099k — small businesses will have to start reporting all their purchases of goods from other businesses. (You can see a draft version of the 1099K form on the IRS website.)

And don’t forget to collect each company’s taxpayer ID number while you are at it!

The IRS intends the measure as a revenue-enhancer. If more transactions are reported, more can be taxed. The provision got tucked into the health-care bill not because it has any relation to health-care, but in order to plump the revenue side of health-care reform—and thus tilt the numbers to make the total bill look less costly.

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David Frum is editor of FrumForum.com and the author of six books, including most recently COMEBACK: Conservatism That Can Win Again. In 2001 and 2002, he served as speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush. In 2007, he served as senior foreign policy adviser to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign.