Hospitals and other organizations that purchase medical devices will likely notice prices on their invoices creep up beginning in 2013.

A provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act created a new federal excise tax on the manufacture of medical devices. The tax became effective Jan. 1, 2013. While the IRS actually imposes the tax on manufacturers – not purchasers – in most cases the buyer that will ultimately foot the bill.

The Basics

The IRS has raised the optional standard mileage rate for 2013 by 1 cent.

Although the data demonstrates that organizations benefit from moving their accounts payable software to the cloud, the same survey reveals that many chief financial officers are reluctant to pull the trigger.

According to a survey of 350 CFOs published by Bill.com, 16.5 percent are unaware that there are financial systems available to help manage accounts payable and accounts receivable processes over the cloud. In fact, 73 percent of CFOs use Excel spreadsheets to predict their cash flow.

If you have unclaimed property to report in Texas, your 2013 reporting deadline will be sooner than you think.

Starting Jan. 1, 2013, holders must report and remit unclaimed property to the Texas Comptroller by July 1. The report should include any property presumed abandoned by the new March 1 cut-off date.

Month-end close is a stressful time for accounts payable. Getting all of the invoices and expense reports entered into the AP system before the cutoff date is difficult, especially when some travelers wait until the last minute to turn in their expense reports.

Unfortunately, apart from asking travelers to be timely with their expense report submissions, there is not much AP can do to get the documents sooner.

The $7 billion settlement reached between Visa, MasterCard and 19 plaintiffs - including large retailers like Kroger, Payless and Safeway - may not be as set in stone as everyone thought.

According to a recent NBC News article, six of the plaintiffs in the case have changed their minds regarding the settlement they originally agreed to. These six plaintiffs, which the article states are all trade associations, now think that the settlement does not do enough to protect retailers.

Although ditching paper invoices in exchange for electronic documents has long been considered a best practice, most accounts payable invoices arrive on paper, according to preliminary results from The Accounts Payable Network's latest benchmark survey.

TAPN recently surveyed 549 accounts payable departments to learn about their manual invoice processes. Early analysis reveals that accounts payable departments receive a median 80 percent of invoices on paper.

Following concerns that the General Services Administration was planning to slash federal per diem rates, the organization instead announced it would leave rates unchanged in 2013.

The 2013 standard lodging reimbursement for CONUS (continental United States) destinations will remain $77 per day, while the standard meals and incidental expenses reimbursement will continue to be $46. The total standard per diem rate for 2013 will continue to be $123.

Vendors may soon start charging more to customers paying by credit card, thanks to a $7 billion settlement reached between a retailer group and the two largest credit card companies.

Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) are nine-digit tax processing numbers assigned to individuals required to have a U.S. taxpayer ID but who do not qualify for a social security number.

New IRS interim rules make obtaining an ITIN more difficult. However, many of accounts payable's nonresident payees will be unaffected.

According to the new rules, between June 22, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2012, the IRS will only accept original identification documents and certified copies from applicants seeking an ITIN. The goal of the change is to protect the integrity of the ITIN process.