IRS · Official form

Form 8801, Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax: Individuals, Estates, and Trusts

If you paid alternative minimum tax in an earlier year, Form 8801 figures how much of it you can recover as a credit this year and how much carries forward. Fill in the official IRS PDF below and download it.

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What is 8801?

The alternative minimum tax has two kinds of adjustments: exclusion items, such as certain deductions, which are permanent, and deferral items, such as incentive stock option exercises or depreciation differences, which reverse over time. Form 8801 computes the minimum tax credit, which lets you recover AMT you paid on deferral items in a prior year once your regular tax is again higher than your tentative minimum tax.

The form starts from your prior year AMT figures, isolates the portion attributable to deferral items, adds any unused credit carried forward, and then limits the credit you can use this year. Whatever you cannot use carries forward to future years.

Who files 8801?

Individuals who paid AMT in a prior year because of deferral items such as incentive stock options
Taxpayers with an unused minimum tax credit carryforward from an earlier Form 8801
Estates and trusts that paid AMT in a prior year on deferral items
Taxpayers who had a qualified electric vehicle credit disallowed by AMT limits in a prior year

How to fill out 8801

Pull out your prior year return, including Form 6251 or Schedule I of Form 1041, since Form 8801 is built from those numbers.
Complete Part I to figure your net minimum tax on exclusion items for the prior year.
In Part II, figure the minimum tax credit available, including any carryforward, and the amount allowed against this year’s tax.
Carry the allowed credit to your current return, Schedule 3 for individuals or the appropriate line for estates and trusts.
Record the unused carryforward, then download the completed PDF and attach it to your return.

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Page 1 17 fields

Name(s) shown on return

Identifying number

Part I. Net Minimum Tax on Exclusion Items. 1. Combine lines 1 and 2e of your 2024 Form 6251. Estates and trusts, see instructions.

2. Enter adjustments and preferences treated as exclusion items (see instructions).

3. Open parenthesis. Minimum tax credit net operating loss deduction (see instructions). Close parenthesis.

4. Combine lines 1, 2, and 3. If zero or less, enter 0 here and on line 15 and go to Part I I. If more than $875,950 and you were married

5. Enter: $133,300 if married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse for 2024; $85,700 if single or head of household for 2024; or

6. Enter: $1,218,700 if married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse for 2024; $609,350 if single, head of household, or married

7. Subtract line 6 from line 4. If zero or less, enter 0 here and on line 8 and go to line 9.

8. Multiply line 7 by 25% (0.25).

9. Subtract line 8 from line 5. If zero or less, enter 0.

10. Subtract line 9 from line 4. If zero or less, enter 0 here and on line 15 and go to Part I I. Form 1040-N R filers, see instructions.

Otherwise, multiply line 10 by 28% (0.28) and subtract $4,652 ($2,326 if married filing separately for 2024) from the result.

12. Minimum tax foreign tax credit on exclusion items (see instructions).

13. Tentative minimum tax on exclusion items. Subtract line 12 from line 11.

14. Enter the amount from your 2024 Form 6251, line 10, or 2024 Schedule I (Form 1041), line 53.

15. Net minimum tax on exclusion items. Subtract line 14 from line 13. If zero or less, enter 0.

Page 2 11 fields

16. Enter the amount from your 2024 Form 6251, line 11, or 2024 Schedule I (Form 1041), line 54.

17. Enter the amount from line 15.

18. Subtract line 17 from line 16. If less than zero, enter as a negative amount.

19. 2024 credit carryforward. Enter the amount from your 2024 Form 8801, line 26.

20. Enter your 2024 unallowed qualified electric vehicle credit (see instructions).

21. Combine lines 18 through 20. If zero or less, stop here and see the instructions.

22. Enter your 2025 regular income tax liability minus allowable credits (see instructions).

23. Enter the amount from your 2025 Form 6251, line 9, or 2025 Schedule I (Form 1041), line 52.

24. Subtract line 23 from line 22. If zero or less, enter 0.

25. Minimum tax credit. Enter the smaller of line 21 or line 24. Also enter this amount on your 2025 Schedule 3 (Form 1040), line 6b; or

26. Credit carryforward to 2026. Subtract line 25 from line 21. Keep a record of this amount because you may use it in future years.

Page 3 16 fields

27. Enter the amount from Form 8801, line 10. If you filed Form 2555 for 2024, enter the amount from line 3 of the Foreign Earned Income

28. Enter the amount from line 4 of your 2024 Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet, the amount from line 13 of your 2024

Enter the amount from line 19 of your 2024 Schedule D (Form 1040), or line 18b, column (2), of the 2024 Schedule D (Form 1041).

30. Add lines 28 and 29, and enter the smaller of that result or the amount from line 10 of your 2024 Schedule D Tax Worksheet.

31. Enter the smaller of line 27 or line 30.

32. Subtract line 31 from line 27.

33. If line 32 is $232,600 or less ($116,300 or less if married filing separately for 2024), multiply line 32 by 26% (0.26). Otherwise,

34. Enter: $94,050 if married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse for 2024, $47,025 if single or married filing separately for

35. Enter the amount from line 5 of your 2024 Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet, the amount from line 14 of your 2024

36. Subtract line 35 from line 34. If zero or less, enter 0.

37. Enter the smaller of line 27 or line 28.

38. Enter the smaller of line 36 or line 37.

39. Subtract line 38 from line 37.

40. Enter: $518,900 if single for 2024, $291,850 if married filing separately for 2024, $583,750 if married filing jointly or qualifying

41. Enter the amount from line 36.

42. Form 1040, 1040-S R, or 1040-N R filers, enter the amount from line 5 of your 2024 Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet

Page 4 13 fields

Page 4. Part I I I. Tax Computation Using Maximum Capital Gains Rates (continued). 43. Add lines 41 and 42.

44. Subtract line 43 from line 40. If zero or less, enter 0.

45. Enter the smaller of line 39 or line 44.

46. Multiply line 45 by 15% (0.15).

47. Add lines 38 and 45.

If lines 47 and 27 are the same, skip lines 48 through 52 and go to line 53. Otherwise, go to line 48. 48. Subtract line 47 from line 37.

49. Multiply line 48 by 20% (0.20).

If line 29 is zero or blank, skip lines 50 through 52 and go to line 53. Otherwise, go to line 50. 50. Add lines 32, 47, and 48.

51. Subtract line 50 from line 27.

52. Multiply line 51 by 25% (0.25).

53. Add lines 33, 46, 49, and 52.

54. If line 27 is $232,600 or less ($116,300 or less if married filing separately for 2024), multiply line 27 by 26% (0.26). Otherwise,

55. Enter the smaller of line 53 or line 54 here and on line 11. If you filed Form 2555 for 2024, don't enter this amount on line 11.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I get back all the AMT I paid?

No. Only AMT attributable to deferral items generates the minimum tax credit. AMT caused by exclusion items, like certain itemized deduction adjustments, is permanent and never comes back as a credit.

Do I need to file Form 8801 every year?

File it in any year you are claiming the credit or you have a carryforward to track. If you skip years, the carryforward is not lost, but filing each year keeps the record straight and ensures you use the credit as soon as your regular tax allows.

Where does the credit show up on my Form 1040?

The allowed amount flows from Form 8801 to Schedule 3 of Form 1040 as a nonrefundable credit, which then reduces the tax on your return.

Form 8801, Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax: Individuals, Estates, and Trusts

What is 8801?

Who files 8801?

How to fill out 8801

Quick fill 8801 on this page

Frequently asked questions

Related forms

Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax, Individuals

Form 1040, US Individual Income Tax Return

Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts