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Obama provides hope for US accountants

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27th Jan 2011
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President Obama’s State of the Union address this week offered encouragement for US accountants struggling with paperwork issues arising from his healthcare reforms.

Obama has promised to reduce unnecessary pressure on businesses, seemingly in response to the profession’s opposition to the additional compliance burden surrounding the reforms.

This latest sign of compromise from the president was interpreted by Edward Karl, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), to mean that the President supports a halt to the onerous 1099 requirements set out in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Speaking with our sister title AccountingWEB.com after the President's address, Karl stated, "Absolutely - I've heard him specifically talk about it. I heard him say right after the election in November when there was already discussions about repealing health care that he would entertain specific issues, and he mentioned the 1099 provision. That’s something that we clearly support."

Perhaps borrowing a leaf from the UK's coalition government, the President also made a general statement about simplifying the tax code. Karl continued: "There have already been indications as we always get with new Congresses that there's an interest in pursuing fundamental tax reform.

"He had his deficit reduction panels in the last two years look at fundamental tax reform; we participated in those hearings. I think there is a general interest, but obviously in his speech he didn't cover any specific measures."

Karl saw signs hope for long-term tax reform: "The totality of everything else [Obama] said really refers to a look at the whole tax system. We support a logical, rational, lasting review of something like that. We see the extenders every year, the temporary provisions - we feel that something rational, thoughtful, and lasting is appropriate."

The original article State of the Union provides hope for accountants first appeared in our sister title AccountingWEB.com. For more background on the 1099 healthcare reporting requirements, visit AccountingWEB.com.

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