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Alternative minimum tax (AMT)

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From TaxVox

How the New Tax Act Affects the Alternative Minimum Tax

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The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax: Historical Data and Projections, Updated October 2009

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The Alternative Minimum Tax

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From the Briefing Book

What is the AMT?

December 21, 2015 by tpcwebsite

Q.

What is the AMT?

A.

The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) operates alongside the regular income tax. It requires some taxpayers to calculate their liability twice—once under the rules for the regular income tax and once under the AMT rules—and then pay the higher amount. Originally intended to prevent perceived abuses by a handful of the very rich, the AMT affected roughly 5.1 million filers in 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act dramatically reduced the reach of the AMT, albeit temporarily, so that the tax will hit only 200,000 filers in 2019.

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How did the TCJA change the AMT?

May 7, 2020 by tpcwebsite

Q.

How did the TCJA change the AMT?

A.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) included provisions that significantly reduced the impact of the alternative minimum tax (AMT). The TCJA enacted a higher AMT exemption, raised the income level at which the exemption begins to phase out, and repealed or scaled back some of the largest AMT preference items. As a result, TPC projects that the number of AMT taxpayers fell from more than 5 million in 2017 to just 200,000 in 2018.

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Why are taxes so complicated?

December 21, 2015 by tpcwebsite

Q.

Why are taxes so complicated?

A.

Our tax system could be simple if its only purpose were to raise revenue. But it has other goals, including fairness, efficiency, and enforceability. And Congress has used the tax system to influence social policy as well as to deliver benefits for specific groups and industries.

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