June 18th, 2011 | 
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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 [...]
May 15th, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
April 16th, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
April 2nd, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
March 17th, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
March 12th, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
March 4th, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
February 3rd, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
January 30th, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
January 26th, 2011 | Print This Post
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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 [...]
