Читать книгу Small Business Taxes For Dummies - Eric Tyson - Страница 40

In 1969, Congress created a second tax system — called the alternative minimum tax (AMT) to ensure that higher-income earners with relatively high amounts of itemized deductions pay at least a minimum amount of taxes on their incomes. When it was added to the federal income tax code in 1969, the AMT affected a mere 155 high-income taxpayers; in 2017 before tax reform was passed, it hit about 5 million taxpayers! Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which took effect in 2018, AMT only impacts “just” 150,000 taxpayers annually.

If you have a bunch of deductions from state income taxes, real estate taxes, certain types of mortgage interest, large miscellaneous itemized expenses, or passive investments (such as limited partnerships or rental real estate), you may fall prey to the AMT. The AMT is a classic case of the increasing complexity of the U.S. tax code. As incentives were placed in the tax code, people took advantage of them. Then the government said, “Whoa! We can’t have people taking that many write-offs.” Rather than doing the sensible thing and limiting some of those deductions, Congress created the AMT instead.

The AMT restricts you from claiming certain deductions and requires you to increase your taxable income. So you must figure the tax you owe both under and out of the AMT system, and then pay whichever amount is higher. Unfortunately, the only way to know for certain whether you’re ensnared by this second tax system is by completing — you guessed it — another tax form. Form 6251, “Alternative Minimum Tax — Individuals” is a bear of a form, so if you’re confronting it for the first time, you may want to enlist the support of a qualified tax advisor. Also, be aware that if you don’t calculate the AMT on your return and you should have, the IRS will calculate the bill for the additional tax, interest, and possibly late payment penalties.