By ALLISSA KLINE
akline@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1612

Business owners are likely to shell out more money as part of new provisions set forth in the health-care reform bill.

CPAs say clients worry their tax payments to the federal government will rise due to additional taxes on earned income and investment income. They may also fork over more cash to pay accounting firms for assistance in filing 1099 reports, soon to be required for both services and goods purchased for the business.

Many of the provisions don't take place until 2013, but some CPA firms are already reaching out to clients in preparation.

"We have heard from a few (clients) that they hope ... some of this gets repealed," said CPA Eric Lasch, senior tax manager at Lougen Valenti Bookbinder & Weintraub. "It's obviously costing them money. Many of them are already struggling, so to consider more taxes and more intrusion on their pocketbooks is not pleasing."

Some key changes business owners and their accountants face:

• 1099 forms have historically been issued for services totaling $600 or more provided to companies during the year. Starting in 2011, they will now be required for purchased goods totaling $600 or more, meaning companies will have to send 1099s to corporations from which they bought those goods during the year. This will put a "huge administrative burden" on individuals and their CPAs to comply with the regulations, said Richard Wojciechowski, partner at Gaines Kriner Elliott LLP.

• As of 2013, single individuals earning $200,000 or more, or married couples earning at least $250,000, face higher taxes on wages. An additional 0.9 percent will be taken from paychecks for Medicare costs and another 3.8 percent could be taken for unearned income such as investments.

"It's going to come out of earners' pockets," said Teresa Majors, partner at Dopkins & Co.

• The next year, individuals will be required to get health insurance. And business owners with 50 or more employees who don't offer policies could face penalties up to $2,000 per employee.

"That could add up really fast," Majors said. "Now they have to decide: ‘Do I start offering insurance and subsidize it ... or do I not offer insurance and pay the penalty?'"

It all leads to more hours for CPAs, much of it involving lots of record-keeping.

"There will definitely be an increase in our workload," Lasch said.