2008 Tax Year AMT Brackets

October 6, 2008 by TFB

Bundled with the bailout bill, congress passed an extension of increased Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) exemption amount. The exemption goes up from $66,250 in 2007 tax year to $69,950 in 2008 for married filing jointly and from $44,350 in 2007 tax year to $46,200 in 2008 for single or head of household.

With this increase, the 2008 tax year AMT brackets become:

Married Filing Jointly Single or Head of Household AMT Income QD & LTCG*
$69,950 $46,200 0% 0%/15%
$150,000 $112,500 26% 15%
$225,960 $199,460 32.5% 21.5%
$429,800 $297,300 35% 22%
more more 28% 15%

* Qualified Dividends and Long Term Capital Gains

For more information on how these numbers are calculated, please read the previous post 2007 Tax Year AMT Brackets.

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Comments

7 Comments on 2008 Tax Year AMT Brackets

  1. James on October 6, 2008 | permalink
    2.  

    If I read this right, the 3rd & 4th brackets pay more in taxes than the highest bracket? Huh?

  2. TFB on October 6, 2008 | permalink
    3.  

    These are AMT brackets. For people who are outside of the top phase-out range, they may not pay AMT any more. Their regular tax bracket may be higher than their AMT bracket.

  3. Bozo on October 8, 2008 | permalink
    4.  

    Saw one of your posts on Diehards, and I thought I'd drop in.

    For those interested in comparing their estimated "normal" tax with the AMT, H&R Block has a nice calculator. You plug in your data, click "calculate", and the calculator shows whether you might owe AMT and, if so, how much. It also calculates your "regular" tax with a side-by-side comparison. You'll find the calculator at hrblock.com.

    Yours,

    Bozo

  4. Nick on April 12, 2009 | permalink
    5.  

    Do you have the brackets for Married Filing Separately as well?

  5. TFB on April 12, 2009 | permalink
    6.  

    Nick – For married filing separately, use 50% of the numbers for married filing jointly.

  6. Mike D on May 19, 2009 | permalink
    7.  

    Hi,

    Thanks for your posts on this subject. I think I'm catching on but I don't quite have it.

    I'm practicing with 2008 tax software. I have a MFJ with $300K AGI. I see they're in the 35% AMT rate. (every dollar I add to AGI gets me 35 cents more in tax. every dollar I add to their mortgage interest deduction in Schedule A causes the tax bill to drop by 35 cents.)

    Is my software wrong? Or is it the exemption phaseout you mentioned in the 2007 version of this post?

    If the exemption phaseout is hitting them with 35% AMT rates, then what's the point of the AGI ranges in your post here?

    Thanks again!

  7. Mike D on May 19, 2009 | permalink
    8.  

    Crud. I read your charts again. They make sense now. Anything btw 225K and 429K gets AMT rate of 35%.

    My bad! Thanks!

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