New AMT Rules Raise Questions   OCEAN CITY – As a result of
significant legislative changes in the laws governing the
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), fewer Americans will be subject
to this tax this year, and some will pay less than they would
have otherwise. To help you understand what the changes to the
AMT rules might mean to you, we spoke with Vinay Navani, CPA,
principal at Wilkin & Guttenplan, P.C., a certified public
accounting and consulting firm in East Brunswick, N.J.  Q. Why
has the AMT become such a concern over the years to so many
taxpayers?  Navani: When the AMT first came into existence in
1969, it was aimed at a handful of the wealthiest people — only
about 20,000 households were affected. However, because it is a
flat tax that was never indexed for inflation, it began to touch
an increasing number of Americans.  That’s why Congress has
gotten into the habit in recent years of amending the tax code
to “patch” the AMT by giving taxpayers inflation-indexed
exemption increases. However, last year