Alternative Minimum Taxable Income Calculation without Form 6251 - How to Proceed?
I'm trying to file my taxes through TurboTax and I'm stuck on this worksheet about AMT calculations. It's asking me to complete a "TY21 -> TY22 conversion AMT capital loss carryover adjustment smart worksheet" with the following questions: Is this return impacted by inaccurate TY21->TY22 conversion? (Yes/No options) Then it wants these values: - Value from 2021 Schedule D for AMT, line 7 - Value from 2021 Schedule D for AMT, line 15 - Value from 2021 Schedule D for AMT, line 21 - Value from 2021 Form 6251, line 4, alternative minimum taxable income The problem is I don't have my 2021 Form 6251 for that last line about the alternative minimum taxable income. I didn't think I needed to file that form last year. Is there any way to calculate my AMTI without having the actual Form 6251 from last year? Can I just pull this number from somewhere else in my 2021 return? Really hoping someone can help because I'm completely stuck!
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Kai Rivera
The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) calculations can definitely be confusing! If you don't have your Form 6251 from last year, there are a few options to consider. First, check if you actually filed Form 6251 with your 2021 return - sometimes TurboTax includes it automatically even if you weren't aware. You can download your complete 2021 return PDF from TurboTax or request a tax transcript from the IRS website. If you truly didn't file Form 6251 last year, it likely means you weren't subject to AMT in 2021. In this case, your AMTI would essentially be your regular taxable income with certain adjustments. For a rough estimate, you could use your adjusted gross income from your 2021 Form 1040, line 11, and add back any itemized deductions for state/local taxes. For the Schedule D AMT values, these would only differ from your regular Schedule D if you had AMT adjustments to your capital gains, which is uncommon for most taxpayers.
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Anna Stewart
•Thank you for this explanation, but I'm still confused. If I wasn't subject to AMT last year, would my AMTI just equal my regular taxable income from 2021? And for the Schedule D AMT values, if I don't have those specific AMT versions, can I just use the regular Schedule D values from 2021?
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Kai Rivera
•If you weren't subject to AMT last year, your AMTI would be close to your regular taxable income, but not exactly the same. For a good approximation, start with your 2021 taxable income (from Form 1040, line 15), then add back any state and local tax deductions you took (from Schedule A) since these aren't deductible for AMT purposes. For the Schedule D AMT values, yes, if you didn't have any AMT-specific capital gain adjustments last year, you can use the regular Schedule D values from your 2021 return. This is common for most taxpayers who don't have incentive stock options or other special situations that create AMT differences.
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Layla Sanders
I was in a similar situation last year and discovered https://taxr.ai which saved me so much time with this exact problem! I uploaded my previous year's return and it automatically extracted all the key values including AMTI. It's like having an AI assistant that can read through all your tax documents and find the exact numbers you need. Much easier than manually flipping through pages trying to figure out which numbers to use.
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Morgan Washington
•Does it work if you have a return prepared by an accountant or only with TurboTax returns? My tax guy did my 2021 taxes and I'm trying to do my own this year but I'm missing a bunch of this AMT stuff too.
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Kaylee Cook
•I'm a bit skeptical about these tax AI tools. How does it handle AMT calculations specifically? Does it actually explain where to find the numbers or just give you the end result? I need to understand the process so I can do it correctly next year too.
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Layla Sanders
•It works with returns from any tax preparer - whether professionally prepared or self-prepared with any software. The system can analyze PDFs from any source as long as they're readable. I uploaded returns my accountant prepared and it worked perfectly. For AMT calculations specifically, it not only extracts the numbers but highlights exactly where each number comes from in your previous returns. It shows you the specific form, line number, and even explains the relationships between different values. This was super helpful for understanding the AMT carryover process.
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Kaylee Cook
Following up on my question about taxr.ai - I decided to try it and was honestly impressed! I've always been confused about AMT calculations, especially with capital loss carryovers, but after uploading my 2021 return, it identified my AMTI immediately. Even better, it showed me exactly where on my return it found the information, which made me understand the whole process much better. It highlighted the values from Schedule D and even calculated adjustments I needed to make. Now I actually understand what TurboTax is asking for instead of just blindly entering numbers.
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Oliver Alexander
If you're struggling to reach the IRS to get help with your AMT questions or to request previous returns, I'd recommend trying https://claimyr.com - I was on hold with the IRS for HOURS trying to get transcript help before I found this service. You can also check out their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is ready to talk. I got my tax transcripts question resolved in one day instead of weeks of trying to call myself.
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Lara Woods
•Wait, how does this actually work? Do they just call the IRS for you? Couldn't I just do that myself? Seems weird to have a middleman for a phone call.
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Adrian Hughes
•I don't buy it. The IRS phone system is deliberately designed to be impenetrable. There's no way some service has magically solved this problem that millions of taxpayers face. Sounds like a scam to get your personal info.
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Oliver Alexander
•They don't call the IRS for you - they use technology to secure your place in the queue without you having to stay on hold. When an IRS agent picks up, their system connects you directly to the agent. You still talk to the IRS yourself, but without wasting hours listening to hold music. The reason it works better than calling yourself is their system can simultaneously maintain multiple lines to increase the chances of getting through, something an individual can't do. It's basically taking the most frustrating part of dealing with the IRS (endless hold times) and solving it with technology.
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Adrian Hughes
I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I was still desperate to get my tax transcripts to find my AMTI from last year, so I tried the service anyway. Honestly, it worked exactly as advertised. I got a call back in about 90 minutes when they connected me with an actual IRS agent. The agent pulled my transcripts and confirmed my AMTI from 2021 over the phone, which solved my TurboTax worksheet problem. After two weeks of failing to get through on my own, this was a huge relief. The service is legitimate and actually delivers.
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Molly Chambers
Have you checked if you can recalculate your 2021 AMTI using your original input values? If you used TurboTax last year too, you might be able to temporarily recreate your 2021 return just to view the calculated AMTI without actually filing anything. I did this once when I needed some carryover values - just entered enough info to get to the section I needed.
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Lucas Turner
•That's a clever idea! I did use TurboTax last year, so theoretically I could recreate the basics of my return to get to that number. Do you know if I need to complete the entire return accurately to get the right AMTI calculation, or just certain sections?
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Molly Chambers
•You don't need to complete the entire return accurately - focus on the sections that affect AMTI. Make sure to enter your income correctly, any capital gains/losses, and adjustments like state/local taxes paid. The AMT calculation primarily looks at those elements. TurboTax will calculate the AMTI once you've entered enough information to reach the AMT section. You can usually access this directly through the forms view if you want to skip ahead. Just remember this is only for reference - don't actually file anything from this mock-up return!
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Ian Armstrong
Just a data point - I had a similar issue with AMT calculations this year. In my case, my previous year's AMTI was basically my AGI plus my state tax deduction minus my charitable contributions. Might be worth checking if that rough calculation gets you close to what you need.
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Eli Butler
•That formula doesn't work for everyone though. If you had capital gains with different basis for AMT purposes, or certain preference items, the calculation gets much more complex. I learned this the hard way and ended up having to amend my return.
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Marcus Patterson
To avoid this problem next year, I'd suggest printing and saving a complete copy of your tax return with all worksheets including 6251. I learned this lesson years ago and now keep both physical and digital copies of EVERY tax document. The digital copies go into a secure cloud storage folder so I can access them from anywhere when I need them.
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Ethan Clark
This is a great reminder about record keeping! I'd also suggest setting up a dedicated email folder for tax documents and using it consistently each year. I forward all my tax-related emails (W-2s, 1099s, property tax statements, etc.) to a specific folder, and at year-end I download everything as PDFs. This way I have a complete digital trail that's searchable if I need to find specific information years later. I also use a simple spreadsheet to track key numbers from each year's return - things like AGI, taxable income, and yes, AMTI if applicable. Takes 10 minutes after filing but saves hours of hunting later.
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