| The AMT Advisor |
| Answers to All Your Alternative Minimum Tax Questions |
Click here for instructions on how to submit a question or a service request to the AMT Advisor, or scroll down to learn more about what the AMT Advisor can do for you. Answers to your questions about AMT law - Alternative Minimum Tax law is difficult for a person without specialized tax training to understand. Even with the necessary information resources, it can take an average taxpayer hours to determine the answer to a question about the AMT. The AMT Advisor, a tax accountant with a Masters of Law (LL.M.) degree in Taxation from one of the nation's leading tax law programs, can provide the answers to all your AMT law questions, simple and complex, and explain the AMT to you in terms you can understand. Assistance with AMT tax form preparation - Filling out Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals, and Form 8801, Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax - Individuals, Estates and Trusts, can be very confusing. Unfortunately, the form instructions are often of little help to the average taxpayer. The AMT Advisor is a professional tax accountant with extensive return preparation experience, able to assist you with the preparation of AMT tax forms and the calculation of specific items. Answers to your questions about incentive stock options and the minimum tax credit - The AMT rules regarding the exercise of incentive stock options (ISOs) and the Minimum Tax Credit are baffling to most taxpayers, and the incorrect application of the rules can cost a taxpayer who has exercised ISOs thousands of dollars in overpaid taxes and missed credits. The AMT Advisor has the expertise to help you make sure that you don't pay more AMT than you should because of the exercise of ISOs, and that you are able to use the Minimum Tax Credit generated by the exercise of ISOs to your full advantage. Assistance with correspondence and questions from the IRS - Got a letter from the IRS about the AMT? Don't understand what they are talking about or what they want? The AMT Advisor can review the correspondence, explain what it means, and advise you on how best to proceed in response to it. AMT tax planning - The AMT Advisor can advise you how to avoid the AMT in future years. Click here for instructions on how to submit a question to the AMT Advisor. |
| Free AMT Information The AMT Advisor website provides free explanatory information about specific aspects of the AMT and the AMT forms and their instructions. Click on the links below to go to the page with the information you need. What is the AMT and how is it calculated? AMT Adjustments AMT Preferences AMT Exemption AMT Forms Minimum Tax Credit Why Did Congress Create the Alternative Minimum Tax? In the 1960s, studies by the Treasury Department showed that some high- income taxpayers were through legal tax planning able to either greatly reduce the amount of tax they paid or pay no tax at all. Congress became concerned that the fact that these taxpayers were through legal methods able to pay an effective tax rate that was much lower than other taxpayers with lower taxable income was incompatible with the progressive nature of the tax system, under which a larger portion of the overall tax burden is intended to be shouldered by taxpayers with higher incomes. Congress was also concerned that the appearance that high income taxpayers were favored under the tax system undermined the public’s faith in the system. To address these concerns, the original alternative minimum tax provisions were added to the tax code to make sure that all high-income taxpayers would have to pay a minimum amount of tax. Because high income taxpayers were largely able to reduce their tax liabilities to unacceptable levels through the use of certain deductions, credits, and exclusions, the AMT focuses primarily on eliminating the benefit of these items to high income taxpayers. Since 1969, the alternative minimum tax system has undergone significant changes, but the focus of the system has remained on eliminating tax benefits that can be legally but unfairly (in the eyes of Congress and the IRS) manipulated by high-income taxpayers. The AMT rules have been repeatedly modified throughout the years because they have been found to be ineffective in achieving the objective of making all high income taxpayers pay a minimum amount of tax. Despite these changes, the AMT continues to be fairly ineffective in producing the results that Congress intended it to create. Although there have been many proposals put forth in recent years to either eliminate or reform the alternative minimum tax system, it is unlikely, largely for political reasons, that any substantive changes will be made in the near future. The landscape may shift as more taxpayers become subject to the AMT and these taxpayers begin to exert more political pressure on their elected representatives. However, because there is no guarantee that meaningful changes to the AMT are coming soon, taxpayers who are subject to the AMT are well advised to consult with a tax advisor to see what they can do to minimize its impact. |
| The AMT Advisor |
How to submit a Advisor How the AMT is calculated Minimum Tax Credit Information *************************** Alternative Minimum Tax Amounts: AMT Rates: 26%, up to Alternative Minimum Taxable Income of $175,000 ($87,500 for Married Filing Separately) 28% on AMTI over $175,000 ($87,500 for Married Filing Separately) AMT Exemption Amounts Before Phase-Out: Taxpayers Filing Single or Head of Household : 2007 - $44,350 2008 - $46,200 2009 - $46,700 2010 - $47,450 2011 - $48,450 Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widower: 2007 - $66,250 2008 - $69,950 2009 - $70,950 2010 - $72,450 2011 - $74,450 Married Filing Separately: 2007 - $33,125 2008 - $34,975 2009 - $35,475 2010 - $36,225 2011 - $37,225 |
How to submit a question to the AMT Advisor How the AMT is calculated Minimum Tax Credit Information *************************** Alternative Minimum Tax Amounts: AMT Rates: 26%, up to Alternative Minimum Taxable Income of $175,000 ($87,500 for Married Filing Separately) 28% on AMTI over $175,000 ($87,500 for Married Filing Separately) AMT Exemption Amounts Before Phase-Out: Taxpayers Filing Single or Head of Household : 2007 - $44,350 2008 - $46,200 2009 - $46,700 2010 - $47,450 2011 - $48,450 Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widower: 2007 - $66,250 2008 - $69,950 2009 - $70,950 2010 - $72,450 2011 - $74,450 Married Filing Separately: 2007 - $33,125 2008 - $34,975 2009 - $35,475 2010 - $36,225 2011 - $37,225 |
How to submit a question to the AMT Advisor **************************** Free AMT Information What is the AMT? AMT Adjustments AMT Preferences AMT Exemption AMT Forms Minimum Tax Credit *************************** Alternative Minimum Tax Amounts AMT Rates: 26%, up to Alternative Minimum Taxable Income of $175,000 ($87,500 for Married Filing Separately) 28% on AMTI over $175,000 ($87,500 for Married Filing Separately) AMT Exemption Amounts Before Phase-Out: Taxpayers Filing Single or Head of Household : 2007 - $44,350 2008 - $46,200 2009 - $46,700 2010 - $47,450 2011 - $48,450 Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widower: 2007 - $66,250 2008 - $69,950 2009 - $70,950 2010 - $72,450 2011 - $74,450 Married Filing Separately: 2007 - $33,125 2008 - $34,975 2009 - $35,475 2010 - $36,225 2011 - $37,225 |
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Phase-Out Thresholds: The AMT exemption is reduced by 25% of the amount that alternative minimum taxable income exceeds for: Single or Head of Household - $112,500 Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widowers - $150,000 Married Filing Separately- $75,000 AMT Exemption for Children Subject to Kiddie Tax For 2008 The lesser of $46,200 or the child's earned income plus $6,400 For 2009 The lesser of $46,700 or the child's earned income plus $6,700 For 2010 The lesser of $47.450 or the child's earned income plus $6,700 For 2011 The lesser of $48,450 or the child's earned income plus $6,800 |
| Answers to all your Alternative Minimum Tax Questions |