February 3rd, 2013 | 
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As she has each year for the past decade, IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson calls once again in her annual report to Congress for repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Using labels such as “difficult,” “complicated,” “burdensome,” and a “penalty” to describe the AMT, she also notes that it hits particularly hard those “taxpayers [...]
January 5th, 2013 | Print This Post
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A most amazing thing has just happened. On the brink of 30 million additional taxpayers getting sucked into the AMT vortex for the first time, not to mention the 4 million already there each getting ready to pay thousands more in taxes, just hours after the deadline actually had passed Congress found a way to [...]
December 2nd, 2012 | Print This Post
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At year-end many articles are written about accelerating or deferring deductions. The sometimes-overlooked question of accelerating or deferring income deserves just as much attention, especially for those in the Alternative Minimum Tax. This article will look at what needs to be considered in planning around income recognition, including a summary of the different types of [...]
November 18th, 2012 | Print This Post
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Individuals with IRAs and 401(k) accounts have the opportunity to do a Roth conversion before year-end, potentially saving thousands of dollars of taxes on their retirement plans by paying taxes now and not having to pay any taxes in the future. This opportunity deserves serious consideration by all taxpayers, but particularly so for individuals who [...]
October 27th, 2012 | Print This Post
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The elections are around the corner, the year is rapidly drawing to a close, and Congress is on its fall “recess” without, once again, having done anything about the Alternative Minimum Tax “patch.” The so-called “patch” is the adjustment that needs to be made to the AMT exemption amount to prevent 26 million new taxpayers [...]
July 7th, 2012 | Print This Post
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The Congressional Research Service recently released its report on the tax issues surrounding employee stock options, including the impact of the Alternative Minimum Tax. As noted in the report, over 10 million employees currently receive stock options as a form of compensation from their employers. With this significant a portion of the U.S. population being [...]
May 28th, 2012 | Print This Post
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Owning real estate is a major source of pain felt by folks stuck in the Alternative Minimum Tax, as the nondeductibility of property taxes is one of the single biggest reasons individuals are hit by this tax. Even the President of the United States has been bitten, as we can be observed in some recently-released [...]
March 9th, 2012 | Print This Post
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Economists are saying the real estate market may finally be bottoming out. New construction activity is picking up, as are resales of existing homes. There remains a significant of foreclosure activity, but to a buyer this is just another opportunity. While in general the tax advantages of home ownership are well-known and well-publicized, little is [...]
February 12th, 2012 | Print This Post
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Everyone knows the history of the Alternative Minimum Tax – its intended purpose was to ensure that the wealthy were paying at least something like what today is called their “fair share” of taxes. But as everyone also knows, its real impact has landed on the masses who are far from finding themselves in this [...]
January 14th, 2012 | Print This Post
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Periodically the IRS publishes what it calls its Statistics of Income Bulletin. This document reports data that has been compiled from all of the tax returns filed for the previous year, including data on the Alternative Minimum Tax. This year’s report shows that, for the first time after six straight years of the AMT increasing, [...]
