That was the headline in this morning’s Accounting Today.  Story number one.

Well, okay.  Michael Cohn is a fantastic writer for Accounting Today, and I frequently forward his articles to clients, as they are in plain language, and they are good.

Given that the IRS is now specifically asking the following question on tax returns, “were you required to issue 1099’s, and if so, did you?” (or words to that effect), I was looking forward to getting some inside scoop from Mr. Cohn as to how much additional compliance the IRS was anticipating.  Given the new questions, of course the IRS is expecting more 1099’s to be issued.  Much more!!

But all Mr. Cohn wrote about were the statistics, he never touched on why the IRS is expecting more!  So I wrote him an email, this morning, advising him of the new question on all business entity tax returns.  Mr. Cohn, being the gentleman that he is, immediately responded to us, and not only took our comments under advisement, he immediately revised the article, being gracious enough to credit my office in the process by quoting me.  Very professional.

This approach regarding 1099 informational reporting is a long time coming, no doubt.  I appreciate the reasoning, and I am highly confident that not only will the IRS see more 1099 informational reporting, but the Treasury Department will see new dollars to boot.

However, I cannot refrain from communicating my increasing worries that we are heading down a slippery slope.  Knowing what taxpayers now know with the new tax return questions, they are now being forced to “report” or “tell” on other taxpayers.  Whistleblowing (grrrrr…) without the reward dollars.  As much as this is probably a good thing, I fear that this is the beginning of a “Killer Blow” to a voluntary tax system.  As citizens, we lost something.   And losing that “something” bothers me deeply. 

Naturally, I had no choice but to italicize, bold and underline the area referring to me.  First time in a National rag, so please indulge me!!

Accounting Today 1/30/12, IRS Increases 1099 Expectations