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| Senate Panel Unveils IRS Reporting Discussion Draft |
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The U.S. Senate Finance Committee staff today released what it called a bipartisan discussion draft of the White House proposal to require information reporting by banks and other entities on reimbursements to merchants that accept electronic forms of payment, including credit and debit cards. The Finance Committee intends to use public comment to understand more about how payment reporting may affect the tax gap – the $345 billion in Federal taxes legally owed but uncollected each year – as well as to determine whether increased reporting requirements would unfairly burden merchant businesses or banks. The staff discussion draft deals with information reporting on electronic payment mechanism reimbursements made to participating merchants. Under the terms of the proposal, banks and certain other entities enrolling or accepting merchants that participate in the use of electronic payment mechanisms will be required to provide an information return to the Internal Revenue Service and to the merchant. The proposal is designed to address concerns regarding the extent of gross receipts by merchants that are misreported and underreported. IRS research claims underreported income accounts for 80% of the annual $345 billion tax gap. The IRS says receipts subject to little or no information reporting are reported accurately only 46% of the time. In comparison, amounts subject to substantial information reporting are reported accurately over 95% of the time. The Senate Banking Committee staff is asking for public comments addressing the types of electronic payment mechanisms that should be covered by the reporting requirement, what entities should be required to report, whether all merchants should be included within the scope of the proposal, whether there should be a threshold should be applied to information return requirements, how back up withholding rules should be applied and other topics. Copies of the bipartisan staff discussion draft and the technical explanation of the President’s proposal will be available in 219 Dirksen Senate Office Building and on the Finance Committee website. |
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| 2009 Annual Meeting |
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 2009 Annual Meeting Exhibitor Information is Here! If you're planning to join the leading companies in the payments business in the ETA Annual Meeting exhibiton hall next April, now is the time to reserve your space and make your plans. Everything you need is here . |
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