Posts Tagged ‘TIN Management’

IAPP Fusion 2011 Delivered AP Thought Leadership – From 1099 Reporting and Statement Audit Best Practices to Innovative Technology and Team Building

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

This year’s Fusion (May 8-11 in Orlando, FL) began with the announcement of the association’s name change from IAPP to the Institute of Financial Operations (IFO) – which was exciting news for everyone present at the conference. The conference then fulfilled on its promise to present thought-provoking sessions along with ample opportunity to network with AP and Shared Services professionals.

Here are some themes I heard rise to the surface throughout the four-day event:

    Tax & Compliance Issues: Numerous sessions and discussions were devoted to this topic. Attendees were looking not only for more understanding about regulations, but specific details on how to move from non-compliance to compliance. Two recurring examples were the changing landscape around the 1099 reporting laws and foreign citizen reporting.

    Automated, Comprehensive Statement Audits: PayStream Advisors & Lavante held a joint session presenting new research on Statement Audits as a Best Practice in Recovery Auditing, focused on the difference between traditional AP recovery audits and dedicated statement audits. The audience expressed great interest in innovative technology for statement auditing, as well as the resulting increased recovery dollars and vendor updates. Lavante’s booth was constantly filled with prospects wanting to learn more about our statement audit technology.

    Selecting & Deploying Innovative Technology: Not only were there sessions devoted to this subject, but considerable activity on the exhibit floor. I met with several Lavante customers attending the conference specifically to look for technology to help with invoicing and supplier management. The high interest in this topic was clearly demonstrated when the joint session led by Basware & Lavante, The Future of Accounts Payable: Improve Data, Improve Processes, Discover Technology had the highest attendance of any conference session (over 100, standing room only).

    Building a Strong, Motivated Team: Many sessions and considerable “buzz” was devoted to how to motivate and build a strong, successful AP team. I saw sessions and witnessed many hallway conversations that focused on cost-effective ways to reward and recognize internal staff in order to build the best, most productive team possible.

These are just some of the main themes that I picked up at the conference. I welcome feedback from others attending the conference about great sessions or themes you saw emerging.

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President Obama Signs Repeal of Expanded 1099 Reporting Requirements

Friday, April 15th, 2011

President Obama on Thursday signed into law a bill repealing the expanded 1099 reporting requirements from the 2010 health care law.  The Senate passed the repeal bill in an 87-12 vote on April 5 after the House passed the bill in March.

The law repeals the expanded 1099 reporting requirements that were included in the funding provision of the 2010 health care law, which required all for-profit corporations issue 1099 forms to vendors from whom they purchased over $600 of goods or services in a tax year and was scheduled to go into effect for all payments made after December 31, 2011.

The repeal comes after months of debate about the impact of the reporting requirement on small businesses and how to cover the cost for the 1099 repeal, which is estimated at nearly $22B over the next 10 years.

“Today, I was pleased to take another step to relieve unnecessary burdens on small businesses by signing H.R. 4 into law,” reads the president’s signing statement. “Small business owners are the engine of our economy and because Democrats and Republicans worked together, we can ensure they spend their time and resources creating jobs and growing their business, not filling out more paperwork. I look forward to continuing to work with Congress to improve the tax credit policy in this legislation and I am eager to work with anyone with ideas about how we can make health care better or more affordable.”

So what does this mean for companies and their 1099 reporting?  Was expanded 1099 reporting a passing fad?  Actually, discussions around expansion of 1099 reporting requirements date back to the Bush administration and are aimed at better tracking business expenditures, earnings, and tax liability.  In order to ensure your company is ready to meet current 1099 reporting requirements, as well as future changes, the safest bet is to make sure you have the policies, processes, and systems to ensure up-to-date supplier tax information.

Sign up for the Lavante blog today to stay on top of AP and Finance topics.

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US Senate Passes the House’s 1099 Repeal Bill, Goes Next to the White House

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

Today, the U.S. Senate passed the House’s 1099 repeal bill, H.R. 4, in an 87-12 vote.  The bill will go directly to the White House where President Barack Obama will have the opportunity to sign or veto the bill.

The 1099 reporting requirements is part of funding provision of the 2010 health care law. It required all for-profit corporations to issue 1099 forms to vendors from which they purchased over $600 of goods or services in a tax year, and is scheduled to go into effect for all payments made after December 31, 2011.

The Senate vote comes after months of debate about the impact of the reporting requirement on small businesses and how to cover the cost for the 1099 repeal, which is estimated at nearly $22B over the next 10 years.

Sign up for the Lavante blog today to stay on top of the 1099 repeal or check out our 1099 reporting center.

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IQPC Shared Service Week Puts the Focus on Supplier Information Management Process and Solutions

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

For 15 years The Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON) has offered an annual forum for shared services professionals to gather and discuss current and pressing challenges that face large corporations. This month’s event in Orlando, FL was another fantastic effort by SSON to bring together the most talented minds in the space.

The central focus was on how to continue moving beyond the last two years of recession and how to better prepare for future economic upheavals. Several marquee session titles included: “Challenging Times Pose Unique Opportunities for Shared Services” and “Fresh Eyes for 2011: Realigning Competitive Strategy Post Recession.” Other sessions looked at using metrics to constantly gauge the health and efficiency of a company’s financial operations.

Another theme looked at the health of a company’s supplier data. Directors of shared services can typically view the entire P to P process, and it has become increasing clear that corrupt or inaccurate supplier data can create errors in the payment process that drive up transactions costs. Top of mind were solutions that ensure quality supplier data. Companies actively discussed the growing adoption of e-payable solutions along with other automation solutions and the importance of accurate supplier data as part of corporate initiatives to ensure smooth deployments and upgrades. On the floor, Lavante saw considerable interest in our supplier information management solution, as well as overall growth in awareness of the critical importance of a supplier management strategy and solutions.

We welcome your feedback about the conference as well as your thoughts about the themes presented here.

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Finance Professionals Roundtable About Changes In 1099 Reporting And The Inevitable Impact On Their Departments

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

In February, Lavante hosted a regional roundtable dinner discussion in the greater Dallas area. Joining the conversation were financial minds from Alcon, Flowserve, Trinity Industries, AutoNation, the BNSF railway, Occidental Petroleum, Lehigh and Genband, who gathered together to discuss critical issues facing their company and departments. A lively discussion was held over dessert about “What pain is your department feeling at present?” On the top of everyone’s mind was, “how will 1099 legislation included in the new health care bill ultimately take shape?

Participants had varying degrees of uncertainty about how the legislation would affect their companies in the coming months. Even with knowledge of the ongoing repeal actions, there was an overall consensus that the issue of 1099 reporting changes has been evolving for over 15 years, and that some form of change is inevitable. An AP manager from a F1000 company expressed that if the original law were enacted, their company would experience an increase from 2,500 1099 applicable vendors to over 20,000 applicable vendors. She stated her approach as, “I am going to move forward assuming that the law will pass in some form. I can’t afford not to be prepared!” This was the collective opinion of the room.

We will continue to monitor the changes to the 1099 laws, so check back to The Hub or subscribe to receive automatic updates.

Lavante hosts an ongoing series of regional finance professionals discussion session. Please contact us directly if you would like to find out more.

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House Approves Repeal of 1099 Reporting Requirements

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Today, the House passed the H.R. 4 bill in a 314-112 vote, repealing the 1099 reporting requirements from the funding provision of the 2010 health care law. The bill eliminates the requirement that all for-profit corporations issue 1099 forms to vendors from whom they purchased over $600 of goods or services in a tax year, scheduled to go into effect for all payments made after December 31, 2011.

The cost for the 1099 repeal is currently estimated at nearly $22B over the next 10 years. The funding remains the biggest debate around the 1099 repeal across the House, the Senate and the White House.

There was significant controversy in the House around the funding of the H.R. 4 bill, with Democrats calling it a tax hike on middle-class Americans. The bill increases the amount of health insurance subsidies that could be recaptured in cases where a family’s income exceeds certain thresholds. Read more.

The Senate passed their own 1099 repeal back in February as an amendment attached to the FAA funding bill. The funding for the Senate repeal gives the Office of Management and Budget the ability to take away nearly $44 billion of discretionary budget authority—except from the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Social Security.

The House bill will end up in the Senate next. The issue that still remains is – how to make up the funding for the health care law.

Sign up for the Lavante blog today to stay on top of the 1099 reporting changes or check out our 1099 reporting center.

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Ongoing Supplier AR Review, or Statement Audit, as a Best Practice

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Transactional errors result in millions of dollars worth of accounting anomalies for F1000 companies each year. With millions of payments to thousands of vendors, business changes, new systems, and complex purchasing environments, 100 percent payment accuracy is nearly impossible – even for AP organizations with the strongest controls. More and more, AP and Shared Services departments are seeing that to identify the highest percentage of anomalies and recover the most dollars, it is necessary to investigate both their internal AP data and processes, as well as their suppliers’ AR data and processes. Find out more in a free webinar hosted by Lavante and PayStream Advisors -  Register now.

Historically, a comprehensive, ongoing review of a company’s suppliers’ AR records, known as a statement audit, was nearly impossible. The biggest challenge with successfully executing a large-scale supplier AR review is managing communication and outreach with mass volumes of suppliers. A “traditional” recovery audit would review the AR records for the company’s top suppliers to identify open credits on supplier records. This process was performed manually and focused only on the largest suppliers resulting in claims that were around 5% of recoveries found by the traditional audit.

In the past ten years, technology and automation have enabled a new way to approach statement auditing. A comprehensive statement audit targets the breadth of a company’s supplier population to request and analyze AR data which delivers significantly higher statement claims (5-10x) than the traditional approaches. This requires an automated solution to manage the supplier data, orchestrate the outreach, and collect and manage incoming information from suppliers. When executed properly, a supplier AR audit taps into an entirely new source of dollars due back to a company.

Additionally, an automated statement audit can be performed on an ongoing basis for a “rolling” timeframe. This provides a “safety net” for a company’s AP department by performing a supplier AR reconciliation on a regular basis, uncovering a continuous stream of credits. An ongoing, comprehensive statement audit is now considered a best practice.

To learn more about Lavante Recovery register for our blog, visit our Recovery Resource Center.

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1099 Provisions Revised, Not Repealed in Obama’s 2012 Budget

Friday, February 18th, 2011

President Obama released his proposed fiscal year 2012 budget this week. The budget contains a portion of the 1099 provisions from the 2010 Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (aka, the health care law).

As a refresher, the funding provision of the health care law requires all for-profit corporations to issue 1099 forms to vendors from whom they purchased over $600 of goods or services in a tax year. These changes are scheduled to go into effect for all payments made after December 31, 2011. The biggest changes from current 1099 reporting requirements are:

  1. 1099 reporting for payments to corporations (except tax-exempt corporations), most payments to corporations are currently exempt
  2. 1099 reporting for purchase of property (goods, merchandise, supplies, raw materials, equipment, etc.), currently only payments for services require a 1099

Now, back to the budget. The 2012 budget includes the requirement for 1099 reporting for payments to corporations beginning in 2012, but would repeal the requirement relating to payments for property. The proposal is expected to raise about $10 billion over 10 years (vs the nearly $20 billion expected from the 1099 provisions in the health care law).

Meanwhile, the House is moving forward with its bill to repeal the 1099 requirements. The bill was passed by the Ways and Means Committee on February 17 and is expected to go to the House floor this spring. This follows the 1099 repeal amendment attached to the FAA funding bill which passed in the senate earlier this month. If the 1099 repeal bill passes in the House, it will end up in a conference committee to reconcile the differences with the Senate version. The issue that still remains is – how to make up the funding for the health care law.

Sign up for the Lavante blog today to stay on top of the 1099 reporting changes or check out our 1099 reporting center.

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What Does The Senate Repeal of 1099 Reporting Mean?

Friday, February 4th, 2011

On February 2nd, the Senate voted on multiple topics related to the 1099 reporting requirements as part of the FAA reauthorization bill. The first was a repeal of the 2010 Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (aka, the health care law). The health care repeal failed in a 51 to 47 vote. The second was a repeal of the 1099 reporting requirements that are part of the funding provisions of the health care law. The 1099 repeal passed in an 81 to 17 vote.

So what happens now? Are the new 1099 reporting requirements dead? Well…they’re not dead yet.

On January 25th, I discussed the efforts in the House to repeal the 1099 reporting. The House will need to vote on a bill to repeal the 1099 reporting requirements. If passed, the bill will go back to the Senate. The Senate may or may not tweak the bill and then will vote on the repeal. Then it’s up to President Obama.

What still remains uncertain is how the estimated $17 billion to $19 billion in revenue from the 1099 reporting provision will be offset.

Sign up for the Lavante blog today to stay on top of the 1099 reporting changes or check out our 1099 reporting center.

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What President Obama Really Said About 1099 Reporting Requirements in His 2011 State of the Union Address

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

As soon as the speech ended, there was a flurry of interpretations about its potential implications on health care reform and the 1099 reporting requirements that are part of the funding provisions. Just a day before the State of the Union, the Senate picked up the repeal effort on the 1099 tax provision. Let’s take a look at what is really being said.

President Obama’s words from the State of the Union on January 25, 2011 were: “Let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses.”

The current discussions about 1099 reporting changes are focused on the impact to small businesses and lean toward “repair”, not “repeal” of the 1099 reporting requirements. I blogged on Tuesday about the repeal initiatives in the House.

Within the past few days, multiple new bills have been submitted to the Senate to repeal the 1099 reporting requirements. According to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who submitted a bill to repeal the expanded 1099 reporting requirements in the health care reform act along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Iowa), “We have heard small businesses loud and clear and are responding to their concerns. Small businesses need to focus on creating good-paying jobs – not filing paperwork. Many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle want to work with the small business community to eliminate these requirements, and it is my hope we can come together to pass legislation quickly.”

Another bill was submitted to the Senate by Senators Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Manchin stated “We’re going to work hard to repair this part that basically is so onerous on the small jobs that people depend on that come from the businesses that would have to be reporting,” again, with the emphasis on the term “repair” over “repeal.”

The expansion of the 1099 reporting requirements was originally proposed during the Bush administration aimed at better tracking business expenditures, earnings, and tax liability.
It is unlikely that the provision will repealed vs. amended, with proposed amendments to date looking at increasing the reporting threshold or eliminating the reporting requirements for small businesses.

Given the President’s statements on Wednesday and the bills before the Senate, it is likely that we will see amendments to the 1099 reporting requirements that ease the burden on small businesses. However, any potential amendments will likely not significantly decrease the impact of the 1099 reporting requirements on large enterprises. Read more about the impact.

Sign up for the Lavante blog today to stay on top of the 1099 reporting changes or check out our 1099 reporting resources page.

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