Joint Committee on Taxation Hearing on Fundamental Tax Reform

June 18th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

The Joint Committee on Taxation recently held a public hearing which it called a Roundtable Discussion on Ideas for Reforming the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.  Much of the testimony addressed the need to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax.  The quote below is just one example of many such comments made. “Tax reform may also be [...]

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Tax Court Denies Challenge to the Alternative Minimum Tax, Revealing Costly AMT Taxpayer Errors

May 15th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

On occasion a frustrated taxpayer will go to Tax Court in an attempt to convince a judge that the Alternative Minimum Tax was never intended to apply to them.  As in the case of Fritz v. Commissioner, however, no sympathy is ever found there – if the calculations are done correctly the Court simply confirms [...]

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401(k) Roth Conversion: Alternative Minimum Tax Payers Need to Give this Serious Consideration

April 16th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

Recent tax law changes have opened up a whole new area of tax planning around employee retirement plans.  Individuals with IRA accounts always have had the opportunity to do a Roth conversion, but now for the first time an employee’s 401(k) account also may be converted.  Because a 401(k) typically will have a much larger [...]

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Exercising Employee Stock Options – Beware of the Alternative Minimum Tax

April 2nd, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

With the stock market having nearly doubled over the past two years, many individuals holding stock options that they received from their employers are giving serious consideration to cashing out the value in these options.  This article discusses the two principal types of options and explains the different AMT issues associated with each.   Types [...]

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I Am Retired – Does the AMT Apply to Me?

March 17th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

Of all the different types of AMT taxpayers, retirees typically are the most surprised when they find themselves stuck in the Alternative Minimum Tax.  Unfortunately, there is no “age exemption” for the AMT – an individual could reach 100 and still be paying it, depending on that person’s level and types of income and tax [...]

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Joint Committee on Taxation – Tax Expenditures and the Alternative Minimum Tax

March 12th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

The Joint Committee on Taxation recently issued a report on tax expenditures.  “Tax expenditures” are government spending that is accomplished through the Internal Revenue Code – in effect a negative tax.  The tax expenditure term was created over 40 years ago by Stanley Surrey, then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, as a way to describe [...]

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I Am an Investor – Does the AMT Apply to Me?

March 4th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

Every taxpayer with an investment portfolio of any size definitely needs to be concerned about the Alternative Minimum Tax.  Certain types of investments, and the income earned on those investments, are likely to trigger the AMT.  Most investors also have expenses associated with managing these portfolios, and certain of these expenses also can have an [...]

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Joint Committee on Taxation Explains the Recently-Passed AMT Patch

February 3rd, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

One of the functions of the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation is to prepare non-technical explanations of tax law changes, both for Members of Congress as they deliberate on a bill as well as for tax advisers and others who want a better understanding of tax law changes.  Set forth below is the [...]

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I Own and Operate a Small Business – Does the AMT Apply to Me?

January 30th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

First in a Series on Different Types of Taxpayers Among the many paperwork burdens small business owners must endure is the filing and paying of income taxes for the business.  Even if no taxes currently are due because of losses, accurately computing and tracking of tax losses is a must.  And, as if the Regular [...]

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Legislative History of the AMT as Summarized by the Joint Committee on Taxation

January 26th, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post

As a part of its preparation for the House Ways and Means Committee hearings on fundamental tax reform, the Joint Committee on Taxation prepared a summary history of the Alternative Minimum Tax.  Here is the Joint Committee’s report: An add-on minimum tax was first enacted by the Tax Reform Act of 1969.  The add-on minimum [...]

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