November 7 and November 16

Those are the two key days for the Alternative Minimum Tax this year. The basic Forms 1040 and 1040A are sent to the printer on November 7, and supplementary forms that also affect the AMT calculation go on November 16, the Washington Post reports. So Congress really must get the AMT patch done by then, or an extra 20 million or so taxpayers will be paying the AMT in 2007.

There's been talk that the patch might be delayed until December, with the IRS posting revised forms at its website for taxpayers to use. That overlooks the fact that IRS needs 12 weeks to reprogram its computers with the final tax rules for 2007, whatever they turn out to be. So refunds might be delayed into March if Congress continues to go slow on this issue.

My feeling, let the expanded AMT hit! It will soon be cheaper to repeal the regular income tax instead!