Showing posts with label middle income. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle income. Show all posts

Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Alternative Minimum Tax - Red vs. Blue



NEWS UPDATES Dec. 7 -
Tax filing delay looms if no fix for minimum tax: IRS
IRS Chief Warns Again About AMT Hit

If you aren't familiar with the alternative minimum tax - commonly known by its initials, AMT – you might want to get acquainted with it. Congress created the AMT back in 1969 to make sure that certain high-income citizens couldn't skip out on paying taxes altogether by gaming the system. So under the present regime, you pay either your regular taxes or the AMT (which is essentially a flat rate that eliminates most deductions), whichever is higher. A definite hassle (because you have to calculate your taxes twice), but at least it sounds fair, right?