Bill aims to curb extra costs
The bill would allow
universities to focus on
helping families financially
By Sara Lieberth
Oregon Daily Emerald
An amended bill that would sig
nificantly reduce the tax-reporting
burden on the nation’s colleges and
universities was introduced on the
floor of the U.S. House of Representa
tives last week and was co-sponsored
by Oregon Sen. Gordon H. Smith.
The Higher Education Reporting
Relief Act, initiated by Sens. Mike
DeWine (R-Ohio) and Susan
Collins (R-Maine) on July 22, gar
nered the support of Smith because
“it will eliminate unnecessary
costs that Oregon’s parents and stu
dents currently have to pay,” he
said in a statement released.
The bill amends the reporting re
quirements placed on educational
institutions by the new Hope
Scholarship and Lifetime Learning
tax credits passed in 1997.
Individual taxpayers are allowed
to claim a nonrefundable Hope
credit against federal-income taxes
with a $1,500 limit per full-time
student per year for tuition paid in
the first two years of college. The
Lifetime Learning credit can be ap
plied against income-tax payments
equal to 20 percent of tuition and
expenses up to a maximum of
$1,000 per taxpayer return.
Under the current legislation,
designed to permit the Internal
Revenue Service to monitor com
pliance with respect to the new tax
credits, schools must report the to
tal amount of payments for tu
ition, related fees and any grant
monies received by the student
that are processed by the institu
tion. A school must also report the
am ounts of reimbursements or re
funds paid to students during each
calendar year.
The regulations require schools
to provide the IRS with informa
tion that is not only difficult to ob
tain — such as a taxpayer identifi
cation number for each eligible
student or their parents—but cost
ly in time and effort to compile.
Proponents of the bill estimate
that the aggregate cost to colleges
across the country for complying
with these new reporting laws
could top $125 million.
Smith said one of his priorities
in elected office is to improve the
quality and affordability of educa
tion, and he believes this bill is “a
step in that direction.”
“This legislation is important to
all Oregon families because it will
allow institutions to spend less time
and fewer resources focusing on IRS
reporting requirements and more
time helping families finance their
children’s education,” Smith said.
The introduced bill would pro
hibit new requirements prior to
2002 and would require the IRS to
update its computer system so it
could match the taxpayer ID num
ber of credit recipients rather than
the participating school.
TTie legislation was sent to com
mittee for review early this week
and a vote might be taken in the
coming weeks.
Cheap iidkeis.
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^vea-t advide.
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