Below, you'll find answers to frequently asked questions about Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax - Individuals. Form 6251 will automatically generate when it applies to your client's return.
Table of contents:
Calculations and limitations addressed in this article may be impacted by inflation adjustments for the year. To see the IRS annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2021 and 2022 see here.
How do I force Form 6251 to print?
- Go to Input Return ⮕ Taxes ⮕ Alternative Minimum Tax (6251)
- Enter a 1 in 1=force Form 6251, 2=when applicable [O].
Why is Form 6251 generating for an NOL carryover?
Net Operating Loss has inputs labeled Carryover Available in 2022 and AMT Carryover Available in 2022. The software calculates the difference between the regular and AMT carryover and can make an adjustment to form 6251 for that difference.
If an entry is made in one field but not the other, the program may interpret that as a difference. That difference can potentially trigger AMT incorrectly.
To check whether the correct entries are present:
- Go to Input Return ⮕ Income ⮕ Net Operating Losses
- Click Federal Net Operating Losses.
- Make sure that both of these fields have an entry for every carryover year entered:
- Carryover available in 2022
- AMT carryover available in 2022
How do I force Form 6251 to generate?
When Form 1040, line 45 is zero, the Form 6251 will not generate because it is not required to be filed.
To force the Form 6251 in a single client file:
- Go to Input Return ⮕ Taxes ⮕ Alternative Minimum Tax (6251)
- Enter a 1 in 1=force Form 6251, 2=when applicable [O].
The IRS challenged the software calculation of Line 35. The IRS believes the calculation is too low.
The software pulls the number from the Form 1040 Tax line per the 6251 instructions.
| Tax from Form 1040, Tax line (minus any tax from Form 4972 and any foreign tax credit from Form 1040). If you used Schedule J to figure your tax, the amount from the Tax line of Form 1040 must be refigured without using Schedule J (see instructions) |
The 1040 Tax calculation may come from the following situations. These are calculations from Forms 8814, 4972 or the Schedule D Tax Worksheet, or the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet. Particularly with the Worksheets the tax on the 1040 will be smaller than if calculated from using the Tax Tables. Thus, the 6251 will be lower than if the 1040 Tax is calculated using the Tax Tables.
