Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) includes corporations among the entities that must receive an IRS Form 1099 and also requires businesses to report gross proceeds paid for property or services. Previously, businesses were not required to provide Form 1099 to most corporations.

Who gets it?   Businesses must file Form 1099 with the IRS and furnish a copy to each provider of property and services to whom the business paid more than $600 in the normal course of business in the calendar year. PPACA added taxable corporations to the list of payees that must receive a Form 1099. Tax-exempt corporations, such as non-profits and government entities, needn't receive a Form 1099, even if paid more than $600. This new requirement appears to end the current exception from Form 1099 reporting for most corporate payees. For more information on Form 1099, see the Instructions for Form 1099-MISC on the IRS website.

Who gives it?   Most businesses must file and furnish Form 1099 to property or service providers.

When must it be given?   Form 1099 must be filed annually by the end of February for the prior calendar year's payments.

What's included?   In addition to current reporting of payments exceeding $600, PPACA also requires reporting of gross proceeds paid for property (goods) and services. Regulatory guidance on this provision is expected.

The expanded definition of Form 1099 recipients could mean significantly more tracking of payments exceeding $600 to property or service providers. The IRS will likely update Form 1099 to reflect these changes, so employers should be on the look-out for revised documents and discuss this new requirement with their tax advisers.

Going to the hospital is something you hope you or your family never have to experience. However, if you had to stay in the hospital, do you have enough set aside to cover the costs? What if you need outpatient surgery?

 -The average length of hospital confinement for adults under age 65 is almost five days.

-Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics,

"2004 National Hospital Discharge Survey," May 4, 2006

-Today, an estimated 80 percent of surgical procedures in the U.S. are performed in outpatient settings.

-Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, "Consumers Urged to Become More Informed

of Their Health Care Options During National ASC Open House Day," August 21, 2006

Most major medical plans cover hospitalization; however, you are often left to pay the out-of-pocket expenses not covered by most major medical insurance, such as deductibles, co-pays, transportation to and from the hospital and childcare.

Hospital Confinement Indemnity Insurance from Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company can help. It is designed to help fill in the gaps in your existing coverage, so you can be better prepared to pay the medical and nonmedical expenses associated with a hospital confinement or outpatient surgery:

• Pays a lump-sum benefit (per covered occurrence) for confinement to a hospital for a covered accident or covered sickness.
• Pays an outpatient surgery benefit for surgical procedures performed by a doctor using anesthesia administered by a licensed anesthesiologist in a hospital or ambulatory surgical center.

Plus, your personal hospital confinement indemnity insurance has other important features:

• Benefits are paid directly to you, unless you specify otherwise.
• Benefits are paid regardless of any other insurance you may have with other insurance companies.
• Your coverage is portable; you can take it with you if you retire or if a staff member changes jobs.
• Coverage is available for you, your spouse and your family.

Supplement your insurance coverage with Colonial Life's hospital confinement indemnity plan. Find out more during your upcoming benefits enrollment:

Contact Pete Reynolds at 803-520-4794 or 803-960-3889 or preynolds@sc.rr.com.