AMT jitters

[EMscout]

Hit for the first time in 2016 and definitely planning to absorb a sucker punch in 2017. Caculated my 2018 estimated taxes and despite the increase in exemptions and phaseouts I still seem to be on the verge of another AMT year, potentially negating any tax benefits that I was expecting to receive.

Any tips on avoiding this doctor tax?
I am trying to max out my charity giving but short of that...

Very frustrating and frankly surprised that not much chatter in this forum considering I am sure that I am not alone.

[VagabondMD]

EMscout wrote:

Hit for the first time in 2016 and definitely planning to absorb a sucker punch in 2017. Caculated my 2018 estimated taxes and despite the increase in exemptions and phaseouts I still seem to be on the verge of another AMT year, potentially negating any tax benefits that I was expecting to receive.

Any tips on avoiding this doctor tax?
I am trying to max out my charity giving but short of that…

Very frustrating and frankly surprised that not much chatter in this forum considering I am sure that I am not alone.

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In all likelihood, it will not be a problem for you in 2018. There may be other tax problems…

[q-school]

if you are close to the border, you could theoretically prepay state taxes and property taxes and make donations to get yourself back into traditional tax brackets.  if you are deep in amt land, bend over.

as vagabond said, amt will affect lot less people for next few years at least.

 

[EMscout]

Taxes won’t help AMT and is actually not recommended (property) if you live in AMT land for 2017

[Medikit]

I am solidly paying AMT again this year and it is going to be very painful.

[cgossage]

What is causing you to fall into AMT in 2018? It will impact very few people starting next year.

[Medikit]

cgossage wrote:

What is causing you to fall into AMT in 2018? It will impact very few people starting next year.

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If AMT doesn't hit until $1,000,000 next year I should be fine (though I would rather make over a million dollars and pay AMT given a choice). I was talking about 2017 taxes.

[Gamma Knives]

I am expecting that I will be paying AMT for 2017 as well. Assuming that you are maxing out all your tax favored retirement accounts (including HSA if applicable), there is not a lot more you can generally do to avoid AMT. It was designed to be difficult to avoid. I suspect a lot of people on this forum pay it; while they don't like it, there aren't a lot of threads about it because it isn't new and there isn't a lot one can do to avoid it.

[Medikit]

Gamma Knives wrote:

I am expecting that I will be paying AMT for 2017 as well. Assuming that you are maxing out all your tax favored retirement accounts (including HSA if applicable), there is not a lot more you can generally do to avoid AMT. It was designed to be difficult to avoid. I suspect a lot of people on this forum pay it; while they don’t like it, there aren’t a lot of threads about it because it isn’t new and there isn’t a lot one can do to avoid it.

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While I'm not a fan of the tax bill, I wonder how many people are out there upset about their SALT deductions being capped, not realizing that they've been paying AMT and unable to deduct SALT for years.

[EMscout]

AMT certainly does hit before 1mil for married couples. It’s hard to understand and it took me a while. The phaseout limit (for the exemption) was increased to 1 million which means that your exemption in the AMT aren’t dissolved by the much lower current phaseout thresholds. This makes it less likely that your AMT will be more expensive. Though it will still be very close for many of us.

Just don’t think that you are immune to AMT because you make less than 1 mil. That is absolutely not true.

[LizOB]

How do I find out if I will pay AMT (besides waiting until I have all my documents in order and letting turbotax tell me)? We paid it last year. Several things are different this year (new house so more mortgage deduction, but more income because no maternity leave this year) and I haven't been able to find an online calculator that is helpful. I also cannot find one that will tell me about whether I pay it next year. It all seems very nebulous to me

[EMscout]

I printed the 6251 form from this year with the instructions (easily searchable online). Filled it out to the best of my limited availability (i don’t have any official tax forms) and compared the numbers to last year when I was hit by the AMT.
Should be able to get to a ballpark figure.

[The Physician Philosopher]

Not sure if you mean to figure out whether you will pay AMT this year or for next year.  If you are curious about the changes for next year's AMT you can read that in my post on the changes to the AMT and whether it'll impact you.

[FIREshrink]

Have paid AMT for years. Close to a flat tax with few loopholes, isn't that what we've all clamored for? If you owe it fair and square don't worry about it. Price of success and the cost of a civil society and all that.

[DMFA]

It's very unlikely you would owe AMT for 2018 unless you have an unusually high amount of itemized deductions. The higher exemption and higher phase-out threshold have really scaled back who will be affected.

...those that say they will, can you show your work?