January 22nd, 2011 | 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Everyone with a traditional IRA should be looking into whether converting to a Roth IRA might make sense for them, because the ability to shelter future earnings from taxation is a very attractive feature of the Roth. The difficult part in doing a conversion analysis, however, is in forecasting the tax bracket that will apply [...]
January 19th, 2011 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
This summary of the AMT by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation was done in preparation for the first in a series of House Ways and Means Committee Hearings on Fundamental Tax Reform. With the Republicans taking control of the House, one of their major efforts this Congress will be taking a good [...]
January 9th, 2011 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
In computing the Alternative Minimum Tax, a taxpayer is allowed a certain “exemption amount,” similar in concept to the standard deduction and personal exemptions allowed in calculating the Regular Tax. A surprise that hits a lot of AMT payers, however, is that this exemption amount is gradually phased out as a taxpayer’s income increases. This [...]
December 30th, 2010 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
The last-minute tax relief bill signed just a few weeks ago may have saved many from being pulled into the Alternative Minimum Tax for the first time, but what about the four million individual taxpayers already stuck there? Not even a “thank-you” from Congress or the President for the billions of dollars paid each year [...]
December 17th, 2010 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
A last-ditch effort on the part of liberal Democrats in the House to send the big tax cut extension bill back to the Senate has failed. With last night’s favorable vote, an AMT Patch for 2010 and 2011 has now been passed by Congress, included as a part of “The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, [...]
December 12th, 2010 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
The good news we’ve been reading this week is that the desperately-needed Alternative Minimum Tax patch has now been included in the same bill as the extension of the so-called Bush tax cuts. Congress is anxious to adjourn and get home for Christmas, and the last remaining pockets of resistance are lame-duck House Speaker Nancy [...]
December 4th, 2010 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
In unprecedented action, the IRS has jumped the gun and changed its Alternative Minimum Tax form – Form 6251 – to reflect the current estimate of what the AMT exemption amount would be if and when Congress enacts this year’s AMT patch. See www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f6251–dft.pdf. Individual taxpayers should proceed with some caution at this point, however, [...]
November 13th, 2010 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
In a letter sent to IRS Commissioner Doug Schulman by the leadership of the tax-writing committees of both houses of Congress, these individuals have revealed their specific plans for the Alternative Minimum Tax patch for 2010. This November 9 letter was written in response to a November 5 letter sent to them by Commissioner Schulman [...]
November 7th, 2010 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
The year is rapidly drawing to a close, and Congress has not yet addressed the Alternative Minimum Tax “patch.” This so-called “patch” is the adjustment that needs to be made to the AMT exemption amount to prevent 26 million new taxpayers from falling into the Alternative Minimum Trap this year, as well as to prevent [...]
November 1st, 2010 | Print This Post
| Email This Post
A personal exemption deduction is allowed for a taxpayer, a spouse and any dependents such as children and other relatives. The amount for 2010 is $3,650 for each exemption. Prior to 2010, the exemption amount was reduced if the taxpayer’s Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) exceeded a certain amount. 2010 is the final year of the [...]
