Congress to Introduce AMT Reform Law
In an effort to protect employees from crippling tax debt tied to their stock option packages, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) and three other congressional members today will introduce bipartisan legislation aimed to reform the alternative minimum tax law and offer retroactive relief.
The so-called AMT issue exploded this spring as politicians from Silicon Valley to Boston were inundated with horror stories about shares purchased with employee options that workers once had hoped would make them rich. Instead, the shares saddled them with big tax bills on “profits” they never saw.
The plummet in the stock market has left many workers, particularly those in the high-tech world, with enormous tax bills they can’t pay--even after selling all they own. Many workers are negotiating with the Internal Revenue Service. The bill proposes that paper profits will be ignored if the price of the stock fell. Rather, AMT fees would be based on the stock’s fair-market value as of April 15. Sen. Joseph I. Leiberman (D-Conn.) is expected to introduce parallel legislation in the Senate.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
