The Senate voted yesterday, 87-12, to repeal the 1099 tax-reporting provision included in the new federal health care law. The House of Representatives had already passed the repeal bill, H.R. 4, last month, so it now will go to President Obama for signature.

IDFA supported the repeal because the reporting provision would have saddled companies, non-profits and government entities with onerous data-collection requirements and expenses.

Under the provision, organizations of all sizes would be required to send a 1099 form to the Internal Revenue Service for every vendor transaction of more than $600. It was designed to encourage vendors to report all of their income for tax purposes and was expected to raise billions in new taxes to help pay for costs incurred under the new "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."

Last year, IDFA joined more than 1,000 organizations and businesses throughout the country in signing a letter to Congress calling for legislators to repeal the 1099 provision. A bipartisan effort toward repeal had been growing in Congress for several months, but disagreements over how to replace the anticipated revenue had stalled the effort until now.

For more information, contact Kyle Shreve, IDFA coordinator of legislative affairs, at kshreve@idfa.org.