Beck falsely claimed you have to file a 1099 if you “sell anything worth more than $600”

Beck: “If you sell anything worth more than $600, you need to send out a 1099.” On the November 16 edition of his Fox News show, Beck encouraged his viewers to “downsize your life” by selling “unused stuff” online. He added: "[D]on't forget, starting next year in the health care bill for some unknown reason, if you sell anything worth more than $600, you need to send out a 1099":

BECK: Now, I'm -- to be totally up front with you -- I'm using Upillar because they happen to be a sponsor of my radio show and I know the guy who started Upillar; I think the guy is a genius. You can use whatever you want. You can sell it on eBay or Craigslist or whatever. These guys don't charge anything for it. Now, you could have just a yard sale -- that is if the government is still allowing that in your area.

And don't forget, starting next year in the health care bill for some unknown reason, if you sell anything worth more than $600, you need to send out a 1099. So this will be your last chance before the end of the year to do all the selling without any of the paperwork. Get the clutter out of your life and then I ask you to please use that money wisely. Invest it. Invest it in food storage. Have the extra on hand because we need to be a shelter for others.

In fact, provision requires businesses to file a 1099 for purchases of more than $600. The Wall Street Journal reported on July 29:

Starting in 2012, businesses will be required to file a 1099 to the Internal Revenue Service for each supplier or service provider to which payments exceed $600 in a single year. They are already required by law to report payments to non-corporate service providers, but the health-care law broadened that to include corporate vendors and purchases of goods.

As NPR reported on September 14, both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have signaled their desire to amend the requirement. President Obama has also said that the provision “appears to be too burdensome for small businesses” and cited it as an example “where I think we can tweak and make improvements on the progress that we've made. That's true for any significant piece of legislation.”

The provision does not affect purchases unrelated to business. According to Reuters, the provision “requires all business to file 1099 forms for goods as well as services, if those goods cost over $600 annually.” Reuters further stated that it “will affect all businesses, including sole proprietors, consultants, self-employed people and freelancers, who are considered businesses for tax purposes, but may not think of themselves that way. It also will apply to charities and other tax-exempt organizations.”

Beck falsely claimed government is exempting companies “from having to use Obamacare”

Beck: “At least 111 companies have been declared exempt from having to use Obamacare.” Beck also claimed during the same show that "[a]t least 111 companies have been declared exempt from having to use Obamacare":

BECK: Now, there is a new global order that is coming on this -- George Soros doesn't seem to have a place for the American free market system or the American system at all. Now we're being shoved head first by our own people. We have seen bill after bill that does nothing but collapse our system.

Health care already costs - they're already going through the roof. At least 111 companies have been declared exempt from having to use Obamacare. Many of them, the ones who helped design it. If it's the most historic bill of all time, why would anyone who helped design it especially want to be exempt from it? It is so delicious.

HHS has temporarily waived specific requirement for certain companies with limited-benefit plans. According to the website of the Health and Human Services Department, HHS has approved 111 applications “for waivers from annual limit requirements” for one year. As Bloomberg reported, the waivers allow companies with “so-called mini-med or limited benefit plans that employers use for low-wage or part-time workers” to “avoid raising the minimum amount of insurance coverage to $750,000 starting next year.” Business Insurance reported on November 12:

The waivers are needed because most, if not all, mini-med plans run afoul of federal rules -- mandated by the health care reform law -- that set a minimum annual dollar limit on essential benefits that health care plans must provide in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The minimum limit is $750,000 in 2011, $1.25 million in 2012 and $2 million in 2013.

Starting in 2014, the law bars annual limits for essential benefits.

The minimum limits, though, are far more than the maximum benefits provided through mini-med plans, which typically are offered to low-wage, part-time or seasonal employees.

Under the health care reform law, low-wage employees might qualify for government-subsidized coverage that will be available from insurers offering coverage through new state insurance exchanges starting in 2014, reducing the need for mini-med plans.

Until then, mini-med plan providers can obtain waivers from the required minimum annual benefit in situations where meeting those requirements would result in a significant decrease in access to benefits or significantly increase premiums, HHS said.

Waivers are intended to accommodate transition period until 2014 when other reforms begin. Kaiser Health News reported on October 8:

In an apparent effort to avoid having some employers end workers' coverage, Obama administration officials this week said they will grant waivers to about 30 insurers, employers and union health plans to continue offering what are dubbed “mini-med” insurance plans, many of which fall short of benefit requirements stipulated in the new health law.

Such plans are inexpensive, but they limit coverage by setting daily or annual caps, which can be as low as $100 a day for hospital care or $2,000 a year for all medical treatment. Employees whose medical care costs exceed those limits must pay the difference themselves.

The administration granted one-year waivers. Insurers or employers will have to seek waivers again each year if they want to continue offering the plans. The waivers, the administration said, could help keep coverage for about a million employees until 2014 when much of the health law -- including tax credits to help people afford coverage on their own through insurance exchanges -- is implemented.

Beck has consistently made false and outrageous claims about health care reform

Beck has repeatedly fearmongered about “rationing” and “death panels.” During the debate over health care reform, Beck joined Sarah Palin in falsely claiming that the eventual health care law would create “death panels.” Although the claim was widely debunked, Beck has continued to invoke “death panels.” Beck falsely linked nonbinding mammogram screening recommendations and the FDA's decision to re-evaluate its approval of the cancer drug Avastin to “death panels.” Beck also distorted a quote from Donald Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to suggest the law would lead to rationing.

Beck linked health care reform with massive conspiracy about “global government.” On June 15, Beck tied health care reform into his broader conspiracy theory about the push for “global government.” He has also argued that health care reform had been calculated to “collapse the system” and create a crisis that would end with single-payer health care being institutionalized in the United States.

Beck falsely claimed health care reform funds elective abortions in Pennsylvania. Beck has repeatedly argued that the health care law funds elective abortions in Pennsylvania. In fact, Pennsylvania is not using federal funds to pay for elective abortions other than in cases of rape and incest. Nevertheless, Beck continued to make this claim even after it had been debunked.

Beck employed violent rhetoric in denouncing health care reform. As Media Matters has documented, Beck has made a habit out of using violent and inflammatory rhetoric in his attacks on health care reform. Beck also predicted that passage of the law would mean the “end of prosperity in America forever” and “the end of America as you know it.”