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1099 will end the world in 2012

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Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#111
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all seriousness, the Reddit influx is upon us, full tilt.

From the Hacker News Guidelines: [1] "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)" [1] http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I just checked, and your account is exactly one year old, so you may submit comments saying HN is turning into Reddit, if you would like.

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#112

What the hell is up with this thread? This has to be the worst thread I've ever seen at HN. You'd think this were a comment thread on Fox News or something. People: Chill the fuck out. The IRS is accepting comments on the issue. The rule doesn't go into effect until, realistically, April of 2013. By then, it is almost guaranteed that the rule will be significantly weakened to the point where it is not much different…

"By then, it is almost guaranteed that the rule will be significantly weakened to the point where it is not much different than what we have in place now."

This is probably only true if people flip out over it now.

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#113

[warning. rant head] This has to be the most mind-numbingly stupid thing I have seen the government do in the last couple of decades -- and that includes bad wars, if that's your thing. Why can it be so bad? Because it screws with every single economic entity in the nation, in a way that pervasive, subtle, and micro-managing. If you want to know where "1984" is, with Big Brother watching all of your moves, it's not b…

Man, talk about hyperbole. This is probably a terrible idea economically, but it's hardly a Nineteen Eighty-Four scenario. It's not becoming illegal to say "the IRS sucks", the IRS will not have cameras in your house looking for the slightest sign of dissent, and it'll actually be nearly impossible to get imprisoned for anything at all (tax penalties are generally merely more taxes, unless you deliberately lie). Also…

This is a 1984 scenario, because virtually everyone becomes a criminal, as everyone will fail to fill out all the proper 1099's. Consequently, at any time you do something the government doesn't like, they can come and get you for those incorrectly or unfiled 1099's.

(Reiterating what madair already replied to sprout, but I felt his point was not as clear as it could be)

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#114
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it shouldn't have been implemented. If they were going to actually try to implement national health care it should be done as constitutional amendment.

If the Air Force wasn't a big enough deal to require an amendment, neither is health care.

That's the strangest example I can imagine.

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#115

What the hell is up with this thread? This has to be the worst thread I've ever seen at HN. You'd think this were a comment thread on Fox News or something. People: Chill the fuck out. The IRS is accepting comments on the issue. The rule doesn't go into effect until, realistically, April of 2013. By then, it is almost guaranteed that the rule will be significantly weakened to the point where it is not much different…

  The IRS is accepting comments on the issue.
  [..]
  It was a short-sighted clause put in by a politician
  trying to close a loophole.
It's not just one politician: a great many people have been over these documents. It seems none of them realized how insane this is. Or perhaps none of them could be bothered to do anything about it? Either way: means there's something seriously wrong right there. If enough sillyness makes it through to this level, at some point the sillyness will actually make it all the way through.

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#117

[warning. rant head] This has to be the most mind-numbingly stupid thing I have seen the government do in the last couple of decades -- and that includes bad wars, if that's your thing. Why can it be so bad? Because it screws with every single economic entity in the nation, in a way that pervasive, subtle, and micro-managing. If you want to know where "1984" is, with Big Brother watching all of your moves, it's not b…

Don't worry, it's just a setup to make VAT look good by comparison.

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#118
post #49
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I'd assume most businesses do nearly all their purchasing through credit/debit card. I know we certainly do. So I don't see how this is such a big deal.

The massive processing fees charged by the colluding credit card duopoly? Why aren't checks, electronic funds transfers, and electronic checks included?

Thank's for bringing this out - it really gets to the heart of who is getting paid off and the results of lobbying in creating artificial barriers through regulation.

Ostensible justification is likely along the lines that the IRS can already track credit & debit card purchases far more easily than purchase orders, checks and cash. Regardless, this would be a major boon for the credit card industry if it in fact goes forward as planned.

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#119
seems like an opportunity for automation. I bet you could do something where you slurp down a csv of your credit card transactions (most banks let you do this) and then go through the merchant IDs to figure out who to send the 1099 to. Now, sure, going from the merchant ID to a tax id and address for a 1099 would be quite a lot of work, but that's where the central service comes in. You could either sell the credit card id-> tax id database, or you could 'crowdsource' it- (though you would have to solve a major trust problem) when one user of your service figured out the tax id mapping they would share it with the others.

Re: 1099 will end the world in 2012

#120
post #14

This will be an unmitigated disaster. Office Depot will get 50 million or so 1099's. How do you deal with that many accounting discrepancies? How do you match that many transactions to all those forms. What about under and over-reporting? This is a Democrat clusterfuck if there ever was one.

More likely: most businesses will completely ignore this rule. It will either go away before it comes into force or it will be so impractical to police that it will be useless.

The trouble with rules that remain on the books despite not usually being enforced is that they create opportunities for selective enforcement when they decide to crack down on you for other reasons, such as your political views.
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