AMT

Hi,

So I've got a lovely letter back from the IRS stating that I need to fill up Form 6251 (AMT) and send it back to them. So I've been reading up on this lovely masterpiece of tax legislation. The short on my situation: I live in Qc, have been travelling to the US on a TN visa.

My question is the following: I know from the US/Canada tax treaty that I can figure the taxes I owe to the IRS by looking up under the married filing jointly column, instead of the married filing separately. Now, for the AMT, what does that mean? Whether I file as one or the other makes a huge difference in terms of the exemption I can claim (69950 vs 34975). But is that what the treaty provision is all about? The language there is utterly confusing... Or should I have simply been filing under single, with an exemption of 46200$? I find it strange that I would be forced to claim as married and yet not get any of the benefits of it.

Thanks

I have to admit I'm not an expert on the AMT, however, if you reside in Québec and are non-resident in the US for tax purposes, generally you can only file singly.

There is a very limited exemption to this rule if your spouse has no US-source income or is below the exemption limit then you can file jointly on 1040NR, however that's more of a bureaucratic loophole than counting as filing jointly. By that they mean filing jointly on 1040 under the relevant provision of Federal law and from the sounds of it you aren't.

However having said all that we're talking about a very obscure filing situation and 1040NR and 1040 weren't really designed to cover a non-resident alien claiming a married filing exemption from the AMT using a tax treaty provision. You might be able to specifically claim the tax treaty provision on a Form 8833, but you'll need professional help with that one, either from the IRS non-resident division who will certainly be non-plussed or a really good cross-border accountant.