WASHINGTON - A controversial tax-reporting provision of the new healthcare reform law is being challenged in Congress. Section 9006 of the health care bill mandates that companies, nonprofits and government offices are required to file 1099 forms with the IRS when goods purchased from another business exceed $600 in a year. Under previous law, the reporting requirement pertained only to services exceeding that amount (see previous story).

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) this week continued his push to eliminate this provision, vowing to offer his repeal bill at every turn. “I will file this amendment on every viable vehicle that comes to the Senate floor,” Johanns said Monday at a healthcare forum hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Sooner or later, we’ll get a vote and we’ll see who stands with our job creators and who does not.”

The new mandate goes into effect at the start of 2012.

Conservatives on Capitol Hill have joined many in the business community in slamming the provision, arguing that it will hobble small businesses with onerous new paperwork mandates amid a fragile economy when the resources would be better spent hiring new workers.

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