How do you allocate the "AMT Credit Carryover" to the surviving spouse when other spouse died? Couple filed joint returns.

[user048008]

Surviving spouse filing as "single" on 1st return after death of spouse.

Incomes were H 60% W 40% or 50 - 50 in prior years.

[itonewbie · Accepted solution]

The surviving spouse does not inherit AMT credit carryover from joint returns filed with the late spouse but must separately determine the extent to which the credit resulted from one's own AMT liability.  It is not, therefore, a simple split of the AMT credit carryover based on a proportion of their total income in those years.

[user048008]

So an accountant should prepare a Form 6251 for each separate spouse for each year?  How many years do you back, to the 1st year they had AMT?  That maybe tax year 2003?

[itonewbie]

You can't create phantom F.6251.  All you need to do is to allocate each year's regular tax, AMT, and MTC between the spouses.