Tax Guru-Ker$tetter Letter

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

AMT Can Complicate Timing of Tax Breaks From Charitable Gifts - Excellent point from the Wall Street Journal. Normally at this time of year, there's a mad rush to get as many deductible expenditures in as possible before January 1. However, if it looks like you will be subject to the insane AMT, you will just be wasting your money because the tax calculation will ignore many of your Sch. A deductions.

As I've frequently said, the tax savings are higher for any deduction that can legitimately be shown on the front of your 1040 instead of on Page 2 via Sch. A. This is just one of the reasons for that.

For those folks still wallowing in the naivete that the AMT only hits the evil rich, this quote should be a wake-up call to contact your elected rulers in DC before it's too late.

The AMT is expected to ensnare 29.9 million taxpayers by 2010, compared with 3.5 million this year, according to forecasts from the Tax Policy Center, a joint-venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution in Washington. More than half of those affected will be filers with income between $75,000 and $100,000, according to the center's database.

- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 12/29/2004 03:36:00 PM Send this post: