Alternative Minimum Tax for 2012

Alternative minimum tax or AMT will hit a lot more taxpayers on their 2012 income tax return unless Congress increases the exemption amount like they have in prior years. The increase in exemption (about $30,000 for joint filers) has been done in the past only on a yearly basis so it gets revisited every year. The AMT is a fun parallel tax that disallows certain deductions like taxes, miscellaneous itemized deductions, and personal exemptions. You have to pay the higher of the regular income tax or the AMT on form 6251. Let's hope that Congress fixes this again for 2012 before the end of this year.