In the no surprise department, the House passed the AMT patch bill that did not contain any offsets. It now goes to President Bush who will likely sign it tomorrow or Friday.
The IRS previously said that it would take ten weeks for their computers to be reprogrammed with the new AMT exemption amounts ($66,250 for joint filers and $44,350 for single filers). Assuming that’s the case, the IRS computers will be ready to process returns on February 29, 2008.
If your refund gets delayed, you will know who to blame: Congress—specifically the Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate. They waited to bring this measure up until late November knowing full well what the impact would be.
Finally, Joe Kristan ended his post on this with a wonderful thought: “As the patch only covers 2007, it kicks the problem into 2008 – an election year. More fun awaits.” Thanks, Joe. It’s the Holiday Season, a time for good cheer, not reasons for the rest of my hair turn to gray.
TaxProf Blog linkfest on the AMT patch passage
Roth Tax Update post