Repeal alternative minimum tax, AICPA urges lawmakers.

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Last month the AICPA called on Congress to repeal the individual alternative minimum tax, saying that unless Congress acts, 23.4 million taxpayers are likely to be subject to the AMT in 2007. That represents about 26% of individuals paying federal income tax.

Joseph W. Walloch, the incoming chair of the AICPA Individual Income Tax Technical Resource Panel, told the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures that "due to the increasing AMT complexity, increasing AMT impact on unintended taxpayers, and AMT compliance problems, the AICPA supports repealing the individual AMT altogether."

However, he said the AICPA recognizes that "simply eliminating the AMT would generate a new set of problems given the large loss of tax revenue that would accompany such a move." Consequently, Walloch urged Congress to consider the AICPA's "baker's dozen of alternative solutions that the AICPA believes would reduce or eliminate most of the complexity and unfair impact of the AMT as currently imposed."

Walloch said, "Our recommendations include eliminating personal exemptions, state income taxes, medical expenses and miscellaneous itemized deductions, including job-related costs, as AMT preferences, as well as allowing all personal credits against the AMT."

The AICPA's 13 recommendations to relieve the AMY burden are:

* Increase and index for inflation the AMT brackets and exemption amounts, and eliminate phase-outs.

* Eliminate the standard deduction and personal and dependency exemptions as adjustments to regular taxable income in calculating AMT.

* Eliminate miscellaneous itemized deductions as an adjustment to regular income tax so that middle-income taxpayers are able to deduct such items as employee business expenses for AMT.

* Eliminate the AMT medical expense adjustment so that middle-income...

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