Who pays the AMT? Q.Who pays the AMT? A.Before the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) primarily affected well-off households, but not those with the very highest incomes. It was also more likely to hit taxpayers with large families, those who were married, and those who lived in high-tax states. The TCJA shields almost all upper-middle and high-income taxpayers from the reach of the AMT. The AMT is now most likely to hit those at the top of the income scale who are engaged in certain tax sheltering activities. Read more about Who pays the AMT?
How much revenue does the AMT raise? Q.How much revenue does the AMT raise? A.About $6.7 billion in 2023, or 0.3 percent of all individual income tax revenue. That is down significantly from $38.3 billion—2.5 percent of income tax revenue—in 2017, primarily because of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). When most of the TCJA individual income tax provisions expire at the end of 2025, AMT revenue will soar, reaching $102.1 billion by 2032, or 3.06 percent of all individual income tax revenue. Read more about How much revenue does the AMT raise?
How did the TCJA change the AMT? Q.How did the TCJA change the AMT? A.The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) included provisions that significantly reduced the impact of the alternative minimum tax (AMT). The TCJA enacted a higher AMT exemption, raised the income level at which the exemption begins to phase out, and repealed or scaled back some of the largest AMT preference items. As a result, TPC projects that the number of AMT payers fell from more than 5 million in 2017 to just 200,000 in 2018. Read more about How did the TCJA change the AMT?