Chief Counsel Praises the Repeal of Three Percent Withholding Requirement on Contractors/ Volunteers In Medicine

Please see below statement by Winslow Sargeant on 3% withholding. Note it is being repealed. Thank you Winslow and Advocacy's help on this.

I will be going to Santa Monica this week to meet with the CEO of the Entertainment Industry Foundation along with Amy Hamlin, the ED of Volunteers in Medicine. The Entertainment Foundation has been the fastest growing Foundation over the last couple of years growing over 400%. You may have seen their work in the Stand Up2 Cancer campaign where they raised $100 million.

We are looking to get funding from them and see if we can get a National spokesperson. We have put together some numbers for Volunteers In Medicine which are truly amazing.Over the last 12 years we have spent $3.5 million and developed 85 clinics that have raised $175 million. That is an ROI of $50 to $1. In 2010 our clinics spent $25 million and had 350,000 patient visits. That is less than $80 per patient visit. Compare that to the cost of an emergency room visit. We estimate that our clinics have saved $62 million for community hospitals. Our goal is to develop 250 clinics by 2016

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
415-680-2188

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Release: November 10, 2011
Contact: Patrick Morris (202) 205-6941
patrick.morris@sba.gov
SBA Number: 11-32 ADV

Chief Counsel Praises the Repeal of Three Percent Withholding Requirement on Contractors

Washington, D.C. – Today Chief Counsel for Advocacy Dr. Winslow Sargeant praised Congress’ repeal of the three percent contractor withholding requirement. The requirement would have required federal, state and local governments to withhold three percent of nearly all payments made to contractors, placing a burden on numerous small businesses. By a vote of 95 to 0, the Senate passed the Government Contractor Withholding Repeal Act. The House has already passed a similar piece of legislation. The Office of Advocacy has consistently worked with small businesses for the elimination of this unfair burden. The Chief Counsel called for its elimination in May of this year.

“The repeal of the three percent withholding requirement is a victory for small business,” said Dr. Sargeant. “For small businesses to thrive in government contracting they need an environment that is clear, transparent and predictable.”

The three percent withholding requirement would have adversely affected the accounts all small businesses that provide services to government entities. Most of the small businesses would have had to increase their debt level in order to ensure sufficient cash flows and thus pass these additional expenses on to their government customers. If small firms were unable to secure additional debt, the three percent withholding requirement might force them out of the Federal contracting market.

The three percent provision was included in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 in an effort to ensure that individuals and companies that receive new payments from the federal government did not accrue tax debt. The law mandated that federal state and local governments with expenditures of more than $100 million withhold three percent of payments for products and services worth more than $10,000. The requirement was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2013.

The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent voice for small business within the federal government. The presidentially appointed Chief Counsel for Advocacy advances the views, concerns, and interests of small business before Congress, the White House, federal agencies, federal courts, and state policymakers. Regional advocates and an office in Washington, D.C., support the Chief Counsel’s efforts. For more information, visit http://www.sba.gov/advocacy, or call (202) 205-6533.