Alternative Minimum Tax

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) computes income tax after adding some specific tax preference items into adjusted gross income. The AMT was designed to prevent taxpayers from escaping their fair share of tax liability through tax breaks.

The AMT utilizes a distinct set of rules for calculating taxable income after permitted deductions. Preferential deductions are put back in the taxpayer’s income for calculating the alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI). After that, the AMT exemption is subtracted for determining the final taxable figure.

The difference between a taxpayer’s AMT exemption and AMTI is taxed utilizing the relevant rate schedule. This provides the tentative minimum tax (TMT). In case the TMT is greater than the regular tax liability of the taxpayer, the person has to pay the regular tax and the amount by which the TMT exceeds the regular tax.

Calculating AMT

To find out if a person owes AMT, the tax software can do the calculation automatically, or you can just fill out the Form 6251. This form takes home mortgage interest, medical expenses, tax refunds, interest, and other miscellaneous deductions into account for helping tax filers find if their deductions are past an overall limit set by the IRS.

The IRS has certain formulas to find which portion of the income and deductions that the tax filers need to add on Form 6251. And it utilizes some other formulas to find how these numbers lead to AMTI.

Learn more about tax information from our website, or set up your company’s cap table online through our software.