2024 AMT Exemption
For 2024, the AMT Exemption figures are $133,300 (Exemption, joint returns or surviving spouses), $85,700 (Exemption, unmarried individuals), $66,650 (Exemption, married individuals filing separate returns) and 9 more figures below.
| Item | Joint returns or surviving spouses | Unmarried individuals | Married individuals filing separate returns | Estates and trusts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exemption | $133,300 | $85,700 | $66,650 | $29,900 |
| Exemption phaseout threshold | $1,218,700 | $609,350 | $609,350 | $99,700 |
| Fully phased out | $1,751,900 | $952,150 | $875,950 | $219,300 |
Effective 2024-01-01Source: Rev. Proc. 2023-34 (IRS)Verified 2026-09-03
Compared with 2023
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exemption, joint returns or surviving spouses | $126,500 | $133,300 | +$6,800 (+5.4%) |
| Exemption, unmarried individuals | $81,300 | $85,700 | +$4,400 (+5.4%) |
| Exemption, married individuals filing separate returns | $63,250 | $66,650 | +$3,400 (+5.4%) |
| Exemption, estates and trusts | $28,400 | $29,900 | +$1,500 (+5.3%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, joint returns or surviving spouses | $1,156,300 | $1,218,700 | +$62,400 (+5.4%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, unmarried individuals | $578,150 | $609,350 | +$31,200 (+5.4%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, married individuals filing separate returns | $578,150 | $609,350 | +$31,200 (+5.4%) |
| Exemption phaseout threshold, estates and trusts | $94,600 | $99,700 | +$5,100 (+5.4%) |
| Fully phased out, joint returns or surviving spouses | $1,662,300 | $1,751,900 | +$89,600 (+5.4%) |
| Fully phased out, unmarried individuals | $903,350 | $952,150 | +$48,800 (+5.4%) |
| Fully phased out, married individuals filing separate returns | $831,150 | $875,950 | +$44,800 (+5.4%) |
| Fully phased out, estates and trusts | $208,200 | $219,300 | +$11,100 (+5.3%) |
Exemption
Exemption phaseout threshold
Fully phased out
$29,900$1,751,900
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
All taxpayers who are subject to the alternative minimum tax, including individuals, married couples, and estates and trusts.
What changed this year, and why
For taxable years beginning in 2024, the IRS has increased the alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amounts and phaseout thresholds to reflect inflation adjustments under Internal Revenue Code section 55.
Common questions
- What does the AMT exemption do?
- The AMT exemption reduces the amount of alternative minimum taxable income that is shielded from the AMT. It is one component of the AMT calculation under Internal Revenue Code section 55. The exemption phases out for taxpayers with alternative minimum taxable income above certain thresholds.
- What is the phaseout threshold for joint filers?
- The exemption begins to phase out when alternative minimum taxable income exceeds $1,218,700 for joint returns or surviving spouses. The exemption is reduced dollar for dollar above this threshold until it reaches zero.
- How does the 2024 exemption compare to 2023?
- The exemption amount for 2024 is higher than the 2023 amount for every filing status. For joint returns or surviving spouses, the 2023 exemption was $126,500 and the 2024 exemption is $133,300.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The AMT exemption left on a joint return takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
What the alternative minimum tax actually is
The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a parallel tax system that runs alongside the regular income tax. It targets taxpayers who benefit from tax preferences - such as favorable income treatment or special deductions - that would otherwise allow them to pay little or no regular tax despite having high economic income. The AMT imposes a floor on these benefits, ensuring that anyone with substantial income pays at least a minimum level of tax. You calculate your AMT on Form 6251 and pay it only to the extent it exceeds your regular tax liability. The tax is reported and paid with your annual return.
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.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
When you have to file Form 6251
You must attach Form 6251 to your tax return if any one of four conditions applies. First, you file if the tentative AMT on line 7 exceeds the credit limit on line 10, meaning you actually owe additional tax. Second, you must file if you claim any general business credit and either Part I line 6 or line 25 of Form 3800 is more than zero. Third, filing is required if you claim the qualified electric vehicle credit, the personal-use portion of the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit, or the prior-year minimum tax credit. Fourth, you must attach the form when the combined total of lines 2c through 3 is negative and line 7 would exceed line 10 without taking those negative amounts into account. Even if you ultimately owe no AMT, meeting any of these tests means the form must accompany your return.
Attach Form 6251 to your return if any of the following statements are true. 1. Form 6251, line 7, is greater than line 10. 2. You claim any general business credit, and either line 6 (in Part I) of Form 3800 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 2c through 3, is negative and line 7 would be greater than line 10 if you didn’t take into account lines 2c through 3.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
How the exemption is taken away as income rises
The AMT exemption phases out as alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI) rises above a threshold. For 2024, the phaseout begins at $1,218,700 for married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse. Once AMTI exceeds that level, the exemption is reduced by multiplying the excess by a percentage rate shown on the exemption worksheet. If your AMTI reaches certain high levels - $952,150 for single or head of household, $1,751,900 for joint or surviving spouse, or $875,950 for married filing separately - the exemption is reduced to zero and you cannot claim any exclusion. The worksheet walks through the calculation: you enter the base exemption amount for your filing status, subtract the phaseout threshold from your AMTI, apply the reduction rate, and subtract the result from your base exemption. If the result is zero or less, your exemption is zero.
Note. If Form 6251, line 4, is equal to or more than $952,150 if single or head of household, $1,751,900 if married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse, or $875,950 if married filing separately, your exemption is zero.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
The two AMT rates and where the second one starts
For 2024, non-corporate taxpayers pay AMT at one of two rates. The lower rate of 26% applies to the first $232,600 of taxable excess (the amount on line 6), or $116,300 if married filing separately. Once taxable excess exceeds that bracket threshold, the rate jumps to 28% on the additional amount. To compute the tax in the higher bracket, you multiply the full line 6 amount by 28% and then subtract a fixed dollar amount - $4,652 for most filers, or $2,326 if married filing separately - from the result. That subtraction is the mathematical equivalent of applying 26% to the first slice and 28% only to the excess above it.
All other Form 1040-NR filers, don’t complete Part III. Instead, if Form 6251, line 6, is $232,600 or less ($116,300 or less if married filing separately), figure the amount to enter on line 7 by multiplying line 6 by 26% (0.26). Otherwise, figure the amount to enter on line 7 by multiplying line 6 by 28% (0.28) and subtracting $4,652 ($2,326 if married filing separately) from the result.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
Exercising an incentive stock option can trigger AMT the year you exercise, not the year you sell
When you exercise an incentive stock option, you generally do not owe regular income tax on the difference between the stock's fair market value and what you paid for it. The alternative minimum tax follows a different rule. You must include that excess as an adjustment on line 2i of Form 6251 in the year you exercise, which can increase your AMT liability even though you have not sold the shares and received no cash. The adjustment is the fair market value of the stock on the date your rights first become transferable or are no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture, minus the amount you paid for the stock including any amount paid for the option. This phantom income is the reason taxpayers sometimes owe AMT despite having little or no cash from the transaction. The AMT you pay because of this adjustment may become a credit against your regular tax in a later year, reported on Form 8801. You may also elect to accelerate the AMT adjustment to the year the stock is transferred to you rather than waiting for vesting.
Instead, you must generally include on line 2i the excess, if any, of: 1. The fair market value (FMV) of the stock acquired through exercise of the option (determined without regard to any lapse restriction) when your rights in the acquired stock first become transferable or when these rights are no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture; over 2. The amount you paid for the stock, including any amount you paid for the ISO used to acquire the stock.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
AMT you pay this year can become a credit against regular tax in a future year
The alternative minimum tax you pay in one year does not disappear permanently. If you paid AMT for 2023, or if you carried forward a minimum tax credit from an earlier year on your 2023 Form 8801, you may be able to claim a credit against your regular tax in a later year. Similarly, if you pay AMT for 2024, you may use Form 8801 to take a credit for 2025. The credit reduces your regular tax liability dollar for dollar, subject to certain limits, and is designed to prevent double taxation when the same income is taxed under both the regular system and the AMT. The credit is particularly relevant for taxpayers who exercised incentive stock options and triggered AMT without receiving cash from a sale. You must file Form 8801 to calculate and claim the credit. The credit can carry forward indefinitely until it is fully used.
See Form 8801, Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax—Individuals, Estates, and Trusts, if you paid AMT for 2023 or you had a minimum tax credit carryforward on your 2023 Form 8801. If you pay AMT for 2024, you may be able to take a credit on Form 8801 for 2025.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
Your tentative minimum tax caps how far certain credits can reduce your regular tax
The alternative minimum tax places an upper bound on how much certain nonrefundable credits can reduce your regular tax liability. To apply this limit, you must first calculate your tentative minimum tax on Form 6251, line 9. That figure represents the amount of tax you would owe under the AMT rules before any adjustments. The difference between your regular tax and your tentative minimum tax is the maximum amount of specified credits you can claim for the year. If your credits exceed that difference, the excess cannot be used to lower your regular tax below the tentative minimum tax. This rule prevents taxpayers with high economic income from using credits to eliminate their tax entirely. The credits subject to this limit are listed in the Who Must File section of the Form 6251 instructions and include the foreign tax credit and certain general business credits.
Also use Form 6251 to figure your tentative minimum tax (Form 6251, line 9). You may need to know that amount to figure the tax liability limit on the credits listed under Who Must File, earlier.
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals (IRS)
Sell ISO stock too soon and you owe a reconciling AMT adjustment
When you sell shares acquired through an incentive stock option before meeting the required holding periods, the transaction is a disqualifying disposition. The ordinary income recognized from that disposition must be reported as an AMT adjustment on Form 6251 if it was not already included on another line. This adjustment reconciles the AMT treatment you received in the exercise year with the regular tax treatment in the year of sale. After computing the ordinary income adjustment, you refigure all your property gains and losses for the AMT using the adjusted basis that reflects any prior-year AMT adjustments. This ensures the basis used for AMT purposes matches the income previously recognized under the alternative minimum tax, preventing double taxation. Taxpayers who triggered AMT on exercise and later sell in a disqualifying disposition rely on this adjustment to correct the basis difference between the two tax systems.
3. Ordinary income from the disposition of property not already taken into account in (1) or (2) or on any other line on Form 6251, such as a disqualifying disposition of stock acquired in a prior year by exercising an incentive stock option; and
Instructions for Form 6251 (2024), 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. 2023-34 (IRS)
- Exemption, joint returns or surviving spouses
Joint Returns or Surviving Spouses $133,300
- Exemption, unmarried individuals
Unmarried Individuals (other than Surviving Spouses) $85,700
- Exemption, married individuals filing separate returns
Married Individuals Filing Separate Returns $66,650
- Exemption, estates and trusts
Estates and Trusts $29,900
- Exemption phaseout threshold, joint returns or surviving spouses
For taxable years beginning in 2024, the amounts used under § 55(d)(2) to determine the phaseout of the exemption amounts are: Threshold Phaseout Amount Complete Phaseout Amount Joint Returns or Surviving Spouses $1,218,700 $1,751,900
- Exemption phaseout threshold, unmarried individuals
Unmarried Individuals (other than Surviving Spouses) $609,350 $952,150
- Exemption phaseout threshold, married individuals filing separate returns
Married Individuals Filing Separate Returns $609,350 $875,950
- Exemption phaseout threshold, estates and trusts
Estates and Trusts $99,700 $219,300
- Fully phased out, joint returns or surviving spouses
Joint Returns or Surviving Spouses $1,218,700 $1,751,900
- Fully phased out, unmarried individuals
Unmarried Individuals (other than Surviving Spouses) $609,350 $952,150
- Fully phased out, married individuals filing separate returns
Married Individuals Filing Separate Returns $609,350 $875,950
- Fully phased out, estates and trusts
Estates and Trusts $99,700 $219,300