The Alternative Minimum Tax  (AMT) has been “fixed”.  Actually fixed would be repealed, but it now applies to individuals with incomes over $50,600 for single and $78,750 married filing jointly. These amounts are indexed for inflation for future years.  This was scheduled to affect 45% of taxpayers in 2013 but now will affect less than 1%.  This tax was implemented in 1969 and was intended to apply to 155 specific millionaires who did not pay taxes.  In 1969 millionaires referred to people well above middle income.  These were very wealthy people.  It now applies only to many middle and upper-middle income taxpayers.  A total of about 5 million of them even after the “fix”.  The tax shelters and things those 155 people were taking advantage of have since been fixed, which is what should have been done in the first place.  But the AMT has been left in place to be a burden the middle income taxpayers.  And not just in taxes paid.  Reporting and understanding the AMT is quite complex.