J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2013: For Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return

23.2 Adjustments and Preferences for AMT

If you itemize deductions on Schedule A, the starting point for figuring alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI) on Form 6251 is your adjusted gross income reduced by the itemized deductions. If you claim the standard deduction, the AMT starting point is your adjusted gross income; the standard deduction is not allowed when figuring AMTI. Personal exemptions claimed for regular tax purposes are also not allowed for AMT purposes.

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Caution

Standard Deduction and Exemptions Disallowed for AMT

Exemptions for yourself and your dependents are not allowed for AMT purposes. In addition, if you claimed the standard deduction instead of itemizing deductions on Form 1040, the standard deduction is not allowed as an AMT deduction.

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You have to add back to your income certain tax breaks allowed for regular tax purposes, as described below. In some cases, a negative adjustment reduces AMTI. Some of the items discussed below are technically “preference items” under the Internal Revenue Code (such as interest from private activity bonds), rather than “adjustments”, but the IRS lists them together on Part I of Form 6251 as items that increase or decrease AMTI.

Certain itemized deductions disallowed for AMT purposes.

Some key itemized deductions claimed on Schedule A are disallowed or reduced when figuring alternative ...