{"id":1217,"date":"2018-03-09T17:51:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T22:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/?p=1217"},"modified":"2019-07-09T13:30:09","modified_gmt":"2019-07-09T17:30:09","slug":"alternative-minimum-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Targeting high-income taxpayers, the alternative minimum tax was enacted to combat only 155 households who were getting away with not paying any tax at all through credits, deductions, and exemptions. By today\u2019s numbers, the AMT covers millions of families and grows each year. In 2008, the AMT grew to 3.9 million (up from 605,000 in 1997) taxpayers, an equivalent of about 4% of all individuals. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">The alternative minimum tax adds certain tax-beneficial items back into your adjusted gross income, recalculating your income tax. There\u2019s a specific set of rules assigned to the AMT regarding how to determine taxable income with allowed deductions<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">If you opt not to use tax software to do your taxes, and prefer manual filing, you\u2019ll basically need to do your taxes twice to determine if you need to pay the AMT. Calculate your taxes with the standard 1040 rules, and again with the AMT rules.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Situational Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">The easiest way to explain which tax return is right is to say that the IRS will count the higher of the two amounts: either the standard federal tax or the AMT rate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">For instance, you calculate your tax for the current year is $10,000 using the standard 1040 rules. You also determine your alternative minimum tax is only $5,000. Since the AMT is lower than your federal taxes, you are not required to pay any alternative minimum amount.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Conversely, if the above scenario determines that your traditional taxes equate to $10,000 but the AMT rules increase your taxes to $15,000, then you would become subject to the rules of the AMT and be liable for paying the greater amount, $15,000. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Targeting high-income taxpayers, the alternative minimum tax was enacted to combat only 155 households who were getting away with not paying any tax at all through credits, deductions, and exemptions. By today\u2019s numbers, the AMT covers millions of families and grows each year. In 2008, the AMT grew to 3.9 million (up from 605,000 in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[138,137],"class_list":["post-1217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-filing","tag-alternative-minimum-tax","tag-amt"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? - eTax.com\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? - eTax.com\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Targeting high-income taxpayers, the alternative minimum tax was enacted to combat only 155 households who were getting away with not paying any tax at all through credits, deductions, and exemptions. By today\u2019s numbers, the AMT covers millions of families and grows each year. In 2008, the AMT grew to 3.9 million (up from 605,000 in [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"eTax.com\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eTaxcom-135749976483724\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-09T22:51:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-09T17:30:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ddb9378caffbf2f32f89a84d213b3ef4\"},\"headline\":\"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-09T22:51:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-09T17:30:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":268,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Alternative Minimum Tax\",\"AMT\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General Filing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/\",\"name\":\"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? - eTax.com\u00ae Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-09T22:51:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-09T17:30:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/09\\\/alternative-minimum-tax\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"eTax.com\u00ae Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"eTax.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/44729_463802350345150_698036533_n.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/44729_463802350345150_698036533_n.png\",\"width\":225,\"height\":225,\"caption\":\"eTax.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/eTaxcom-135749976483724\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/AskETAX\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/855ASKETAX\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ddb9378caffbf2f32f89a84d213b3ef4\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/11f5dc3cde415e2a21a1f661e9da122266d26fe459fff87652a83908cc05aae5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/11f5dc3cde415e2a21a1f661e9da122266d26fe459fff87652a83908cc05aae5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/11f5dc3cde415e2a21a1f661e9da122266d26fe459fff87652a83908cc05aae5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.etax.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? - eTax.com\u00ae Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? - eTax.com\u00ae Blog","og_description":"Targeting high-income taxpayers, the alternative minimum tax was enacted to combat only 155 households who were getting away with not paying any tax at all through credits, deductions, and exemptions. By today\u2019s numbers, the AMT covers millions of families and grows each year. In 2008, the AMT grew to 3.9 million (up from 605,000 in [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/","og_site_name":"eTax.com\u00ae Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eTaxcom-135749976483724\/","article_published_time":"2018-03-09T22:51:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-09T17:30:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ddb9378caffbf2f32f89a84d213b3ef4"},"headline":"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax?","datePublished":"2018-03-09T22:51:25+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-09T17:30:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/"},"wordCount":268,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg","keywords":["Alternative Minimum Tax","AMT"],"articleSection":["General Filing"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/","url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/","name":"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? - eTax.com\u00ae Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg","datePublished":"2018-03-09T22:51:25+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-09T17:30:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/accounting-blur-button-1028726-e1562693401798.jpg","width":600,"height":400,"caption":"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/alternative-minimum-tax\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is the Alternative Minimum Tax?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/","name":"eTax.com\u00ae Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"eTax.com","url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/44729_463802350345150_698036533_n.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/44729_463802350345150_698036533_n.png","width":225,"height":225,"caption":"eTax.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eTaxcom-135749976483724\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AskETAX","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/855ASKETAX"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ddb9378caffbf2f32f89a84d213b3ef4","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11f5dc3cde415e2a21a1f661e9da122266d26fe459fff87652a83908cc05aae5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11f5dc3cde415e2a21a1f661e9da122266d26fe459fff87652a83908cc05aae5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11f5dc3cde415e2a21a1f661e9da122266d26fe459fff87652a83908cc05aae5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1218,"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions\/1218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}