2017 AMT Exemption
For 2017, the AMT Exemption figures are $84,500 (Exemption, joint returns or surviving spouses), $54,300 (Exemption, unmarried individuals), $42,250 (Exemption, married individuals filing separate returns) and 5 more figures below.
| Item | Joint returns or surviving spouses | Unmarried individuals | Married individuals filing separate returns | Estates and trusts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exemption | $84,500 | $54,300 | $42,250 | $24,100 |
| Exemption phaseout threshold | $160,900 | $120,700 | $80,450 | $80,450 |
Effective 2017-01-01Source: Rev. Proc. 2016-55 (IRS)Verified 2026-09-03
Compared with 2016
| Item | 2016 | 2017 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exemption, joint returns or surviving spouses | $83,800 | $84,500 | +$700 (+0.8%) |
| Exemption, unmarried individuals | $53,900 | $54,300 | +$400 (+0.7%) |
| Exemption, married individuals filing separate returns | $41,900 | $42,250 | +$350 (+0.8%) |
| Exemption, estates and trusts | $23,900 | $24,100 | +$200 (+0.8%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, joint returns or surviving spouses | $159,700 | $160,900 | +$1,200 (+0.8%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, unmarried individuals | $119,700 | $120,700 | +$1,000 (+0.8%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, married individuals filing separate returns | $79,850 | $80,450 | +$600 (+0.8%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, estates and trusts | $79,850 | $80,450 | +$600 (+0.8%) |
Exemption
Exemption phaseout threshold
$24,100$160,900
One dot per column of the table, on a scale running from the smallest of these amounts to the largest. The scale is logarithmic - each faint line is ten times the one before it, so that the amounts crowded at the low end stay far enough apart to read. The table states which dot is which.
Who it applies to
Taxpayers subject to the individual Alternative Minimum Tax for taxable years beginning in 2017, including joint filers, surviving spouses, unmarried individuals, married individuals filing separately, estates, and trusts.
What changed this year, and why
For 2017, the IRS set the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) exemption amounts under IRC § 55(d)(1) and the phaseout threshold under § 55(d)(3) for joint returns and surviving spouses.
Common questions
- What is the AMT exemption amount for each filing status in 2017?
- For 2017, the AMT exemption is $84,500 for joint returns and surviving spouses, $54,300 for unmarried individuals (other than surviving spouses), $42,250 for married individuals filing separate returns, and $24,100 for estates and trusts.
- At what alternative minimum taxable income does the AMT exemption begin to phase out for joint filers?
- For joint returns and surviving spouses, the phaseout of the AMT exemption begins at $160,900 of alternative minimum taxable income for 2017.
What the alternative minimum tax actually is
The AMT is a second measurement of the same year's income, made under its own rules, and it is charged on top of the regular tax rather than instead of it. Nothing about it implies wrongdoing. It reaches taxpayers precisely because the return they filed was correct: income the tax law treats favorably, and deductions the tax law grants, can pull a high economic income down to a modest regular tax bill, and the AMT is the ceiling the law puts on how far that is allowed to go. It does not withdraw any particular benefit; it limits what all of them together can take off the total tax. Two things follow for a reader. Whether the AMT touches you depends far less on how much you earned than on the shape of the income and deductions behind it, so two households reporting the same income can land on opposite sides of it. And it is not something to be judged item by item, because the limit is applied to the combined effect - a single favorable item rarely produces it, while several stacked on one return can.
The AMT is a separate tax that is imposed in addition to your regular tax. It applies to taxpayers who have certain types of income that receive favorable treatment, or who qualify for certain deductions, under the tax law. These tax benefits can significantly reduce the regular tax of some taxpayers with higher economic incomes. The AMT sets a limit on the amount these benefits can be used to reduce total tax.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2017), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
When you have to file Form 6251
Attaching the form and owing the tax are different things, and three of the four triggers are not about owing anything. Only the first is the AMT itself: line 31 standing above line 34 means the tentative minimum tax came out higher than the regular tax. The other three ask for the form because something else on the return depends on the number it produces. Claiming any general business credit brings you in through Form 3800, and so does claiming the qualified electric vehicle credit, the personal use portion of the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit, or the credit for prior year minimum tax - the tax liability limit on those credits is worked out from this form, so it has to be completed and attached even when no AMT is due. The fourth trigger is the one that surprises people. Where lines 8 through 27 come to a negative total, you have to ask whether line 31 would have exceeded line 34 with those lines left out of account: downward adjustments do not let you skip the form, they have to be shown to be the thing that kept you out of the AMT. If none of the four is true, the form stays off the return.
Attach Form 6251 to your return if any of the following statements is true. 1. Form 6251, line 31, is greater than line 34. 2. You claim any general business credit, and either line 6 (in Part I) or line 25 of Form 3800 is more than zero. 3. You claim the qualified electric vehicle credit (Form 8834), the personal use part of the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit (Form 8911), or the credit for prior year minimum tax (Form 8801). 4. The total of Form 6251, lines 8 through 27, is negative and line 31 would be greater than line 34 if you did not take into account lines 8 through 27.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2017), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
How the exemption is taken away as income rises
The AMT exemption is reduced as your alternative minimum taxable income rises above a threshold. For 2017, the phaseout thresholds are $160,900 for married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er), with lower amounts for other filing statuses. The exemption is reduced dollar for dollar as your income exceeds the phaseout threshold. Once your alternative minimum taxable income reaches the phaseout ceiling, your exemption is zero and you lose it entirely. For 2017, the exemption amounts are $84,500 for joint returns or surviving spouses, $54,300 for unmarried individuals, $42,250 for married individuals filing separate returns, and $24,100 for estates and trusts. When your income equals or exceeds the ceiling amount for your filing status, the worksheet instructs you to enter zero on line 29 and skip the rest of the computation.
Note. If Form 6251, line 28, is equal to or more than: $337,900 if single or head of household, $498,900 if married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er), or $249,450 if married filing separately, your exemption is zero. Don’t complete this worksheet; instead, enter the amount from Form 6251, line 28, on line 30 and go to line 31.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2017), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
The two AMT rates and where the second one starts
The alternative minimum tax is computed using two rates: 26% (0.26) and 28% (0.28). The lower 26% rate applies to the first $187,800 of AMT base for most filers ($93,900 if married filing separately). Any amount above that threshold is taxed at the higher 28% rate. When calculating the tax, if the AMT base is $187,800 or less, you multiply the entire base by 26%. If the AMT base exceeds $187,800, you multiply the entire base by 28% and then subtract $3,756 ($1,878 if married filing separately) from the result. This subtraction effectively corrects for the fact that the first portion was already supposed to be taxed at 26%, not 28%. The two-rate structure ensures that taxpayers with lower AMT bases pay only at the 26% rate, while those with higher bases pay a blended rate on the excess above the threshold.
All others: If line 3 is $187,800 or less ($93,900 or less if married filing separately), multiply line 3 by 26% (0.26). Otherwise, multiply line 3 by 28% (0.28) and subtract $3,756 ($1,878 if married filing separately) from the result.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2017), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
Exercising an incentive stock option can trigger AMT the year you exercise, not the year you sell
For regular tax purposes, exercising an incentive stock option (ISO) is not a taxable event. But for the alternative minimum tax, the difference between the fair market value of the stock acquired through the exercise and the amount you paid for the stock must be included as an adjustment on Form 6251, line 14, in the year your rights in the stock first become transferable or are no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture. This means the AMT adjustment is measured at exercise, not at sale. You can owe AMT in the year you exercise based on paper gain - the spread between what the shares are worth and what you paid - even though you have not sold them and have received no cash. If you acquired stock by exercising an ISO and disposed of it in the same year, the regular tax and AMT treatments are the same and no adjustment is required. If you hold the shares past the year of exercise, you increase your AMT basis in the stock by the amount of the adjustment, which reduces the AMT gain (or increases the AMT loss) when you eventually sell.
Increase your AMT basis in any stock acquired through the exercise of an ISO by the amount of the adjustment.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2017), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
AMT you pay this year can become a credit against regular tax in a future year
When you owe alternative minimum tax in a given year, that payment does not simply vanish - it can become a refundable credit against your regular tax in a future year. Form 8801, Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax, is used to figure this credit. If you paid AMT in a prior year, you may be eligible to claim a credit on your current-year return. The credit is generally based on the "deferral items" that caused the AMT - items that defer income or deductions to later years rather than permanently excluding them. For example, if you paid AMT in 2016 because of an ISO exercise adjustment, and in 2017 you sell the ISO shares in a qualifying disposition, the AMT you paid may be recoverable as a minimum tax credit. Any minimum tax credit carryforward from the prior year's Form 8801 is also taken into account. If you pay AMT for 2017, you may be able to take a credit on Form 8801 for 2018. The credit reduces your regular tax liability dollar for dollar, up to the amount by which your regular tax exceeds your tentative minimum tax for the credit year.
See Form 8801, Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax—Individuals, Estates, and Trusts, if you paid AMT for 2016 or you had a minimum tax credit carryforward on your 2016 Form 8801.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2017), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
Your tentative minimum tax caps how far certain credits can reduce your regular tax
Certain tax credits - such as the general business credit, the qualified electric vehicle credit, and the personal use part of the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit - are limited in how much they can reduce your regular tax. The limit is your tentative minimum tax, the amount computed on Form 6251, line 33. In other words, these credits can only offset the portion of your regular tax that exceeds your tentative minimum tax. If you are subject to AMT, your tentative minimum tax is positive, and it caps the credits that can be used against your regular tax liability for the year. You may need to know your tentative minimum tax amount in order to figure the tax liability limit on the credits listed under Who Must File. This interaction between AMT and nonrefundable credits ensures that taxpayers who owe AMT cannot use these credits to reduce their regular tax below the minimum tax floor.
Also use Form 6251 to figure your tentative minimum tax (Form 6251, line 33). You may need to know that amount to figure the tax liability limit on the credits listed under Who Must File.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2017), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Rev. Proc. 2016-55 (IRS)
- Exemption, joint returns or surviving spouses
Joint Returns or $84,500 Surviving Spouses
- Exemption, unmarried individuals
Unmarried Individuals (other than $54,300 Surviving Spouses)
- Exemption, married individuals filing separate returns
Married Individuals Filing Separate $42,250 Returns
- Exemption, estates and trusts
Estates and Trusts $24,100
- Exemption phaseout threshold, joint returns or surviving spouses
For taxable years beginning in 2017, the amounts used under § 55(d)(3) to determine the phaseout of the exemption amounts are: Joint Returns or $160,900 Surviving Spouses
- Exemption phaseout threshold, unmarried individuals
Unmarried Individuals (other than $120,700 Surviving Spouses)
- Exemption phaseout threshold, married individuals filing separate returns
Married Individuals Filing Separate $80,450 Returns and Estates and Trusts
- Exemption phaseout threshold, estates and trusts
Married Individuals Filing Separate $80,450 Returns and Estates and Trusts