Farm Bureau Pushing for Repeal of Form 1099 Requirements Source: www.fb.org WASHINGTON, D.C., September 28, 2010 – Provisions in the new health care law that require farms, ranches and other businesses to complete an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 for any expenditure totaling more than $600 in a calendar year create an unnecessary and costly paperwork burden, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Farm Bureau backs bills in the House and Senate, H.R. 5141, by Rep. Dan Lungren (R- Calif.) and S. 3578 by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) that would repeal the Form 1099 reporting requirements. In addition, Farm Bureau filed comments with the IRS calling for repeal of the provisions that are set to take effect in 2012. “Farmers and ranchers are already burdened with excessive paperwork that takes time away from managing their businesses,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “The 1099 provisions require even more time and money, pushing more paper in an exercise that even the IRS’s national taxpayer advocate says will do little to improve tax compliance. “For small businesses like farms and ranches, this provision will drastically increase the number of Form 1099s that need to be sent each year. Farmers and ranchers will have to hire someone to do the paperwork or spend their own valuable time to do the research and fill out the forms.” In comments to the IRS, Farm Bureau cited research by LeMaster Daniels, an accounting firm that services numerous agricultural operations across Washington State and Idaho. According to LeMaster Daniels, the number of forms that would be required for a typical cattle operation with $250,000 of gross income would increase over four fold from 16 to 68. For a typical orchard with $175,000 of gross revenue, the number of Form 1099s required would increase from one to 19.