AMT adjustment broken for me

[jolshan]

Nothing changes on my AMT calculation when I enter an adjustment. I entered in my actual adjustment and did not see it on the final result calculation when it said my AMT was 0. I jokingly entered 10 million as my adjustment and it still said amt was 0 and that number was not listed anywhere.

I also tried calling support 2 times. The first time they immediately hung up and the second time I explained the problem and they ghosted me after 5 minutes of silence. Very frustrating. Thinking about trying to do my taxes elsewhere.

[MaryK4]

Can you clarify which specific adjustments you are making?  In general, if the adjustment item does not apply to the specifics of your AMT computation, it will not change the tax.  (I may be able to trace the data entry).  

[jolshan]

I’m trying to add an adjustment due to exercising and holding isos.

for what it’s worth though, none of the fields affected the calculation, so it’s a pretty bad user experience regardless.

[MaryK4]

The adjustments you enter have to directly affect the AMT item and in the case of the stock options, very few adjustments will change your AMT amount.  (One example I can think of is if there were two options exercised and one had a loss but this is highly unlikely).  @jolshan 

[jolshan]

 I’m not sure I follow what you said. Here’s what I know about amt

1) When exercising and holding ISOs there is an AMT adjustment for the difference between my strike price and the market value for when I exercised. I have documentation from my employer with a field called “AMT” adjustment that is non-neglible 

2) I know that given the adjustment there is a calculation in which my taxable income is added to the adjustment, the amt exemption is subtracted, some rate is multiplied, and if that final value is greater than my current tax calculation, I’ve triggered AMT and must pay that value. I tried to do a quick calculation myself but ran into some confusion on my income and the rates. Turbo Tax seems to be claiming to do this calculation but I don’t see the work shown and the AMT adjustment is absent.

3) Several of my coworkers who exercised and held triggered amt last year because the difference between their strike and the current market value was very high 

4) If I jokingly said the AMT adjustment was 10 million, that should without fail trigger AMT and the fact that it is not indicates either a bug in the software or that these fields are not clear to the user and therefore  also a bad user experience.

TLDR; I know enough about AMT to know that it could be triggered by this adjustment and the fact that I can’t even see the calculation take the adjustment into account is worrying and makes me think the software has an issue

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/alternative-minimum-tax-amt-202...

[AmyC]

An AMT is created when exercised and adjusted when sold. You should have some forms reflecting the exercise and your $10,000,000 test definitely should have a result. Something is not right. Follow these steps:

1. Under Other Tax Situations
2. Alternative Minimum Tax
3. Start/Edit/ Update
4. AMT?  Yes
5. Uncommon? select I exercised but didn't sell, continue
6. Enter your adjustment
7. Sell prior year, continue
8. Your final number for now shows for AMT

Be sure to track this outside of your tax return.  I want to urge you to create a financial notebook that is kept separate from your tax return. Keep it safe and each year, add your year-end statements from all your financial accounts plus a copy of your W2’s, your  carryover information, and proof of your basis in your various investments. The program won't let you add the AMT carryover when you are paying AMT. You will have to add any AMT carryover in a year when you are not paying AMT.

[jolshan]

Thanks for the reply and validating my situation. I appreciate the screenshots too! Unfortunately I will have to provide some of my own. I don't seem to have the options you show. Do I need to update something somehow?

I thought I was using Premier Online since that's what the webpage says. But these are my options:
No option for exercising stock...

[AmyC]

You should have the Form 6251 in your software. Using the other options will not put your ISO on line 2i. 

The tax products changed Feb 15 but you should have access. Please contact help. 

[jolshan]

Thanks again! I did try calling originally but got hung up on twice. Hopefully another time will work. (Or I will try a different software)

[JCinadr]

I'm experiencing the same issue.

I've created multiple community posts, provided in-product feedback, and have called support. 

My AMT number shows $0 and the calculations appear accurate, but when I click done, an amount is added to my tax bill equal to if my ISO exercise and hold gain was treated as ordinary 1099 income that needs to be taxed in it's entirety.