Repeal of 1099 tax-reporting provision would ease burden on retail pharmacists

The U.S. Senate last month voted to repeal a 1099 tax-filing requirement that would have been time-consuming for retail pharmacists. As of press time, the U.S. House had not voted on the provision.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) praised the Senate's repeal of the provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which expands the 1099 tax-reporting requirements for businesses that purchase goods and services of more than $600.

"Full compliance with the requirement would prove daunting for independently owned pharmacy small businesses with limited staff and financial resources. Most important, our patients would suffer, because the pharmacists would have less time to spend with them, providing prescription drug services and counseling," said Kathleen Jaeger, executive vice president and CEO of NCPA.

NCPA is part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare, which includes a broad range of associations, including the American Bankers Association and the National Restaurant Association. This group has been working on legislative solutions to avoid extra burdens with the 1099 requirement and other provisions of the PPACA.

"While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act included some bipartisan provisions promoting patient access to pharmacy services, a major flaw is the 1099 tax-reporting provision, which further shifts community pharmacists' responsibilities from the clinical to the clerical," Jaeger said.

Community pharmacists number 65,000 and dispense more than 40% of all retail prescriptions, wrote Coster in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "Our pharmacy owners taken together make up a $93 billion healthcare marketplace," he wrote.