In 2026, the IRS gives you slightly more "room" before you trigger AMT, but they also accelerated how quickly you lose that extra room as you earn more.
Here's the extra "room" in 2026 from the exemption* used in AMT calculations:
🔹 Single filing in 2026: $90,100 exemption (up from $88,100 in 2025)
🔹 Married Filing Jointly in 2026: $140,200 exemption (up from $137,000 in 2025)
*a higher exemption lowers your chances of triggering AMT
Here's how you lose that extra exemption room if you register too much income:
🔹 In 2025: If you made $1.1M, you were still below the exemption phase-out** threshold; meaning you kept your full $137,000 exemption.
🔹 In 2026: At that same $1.1M income, you are now $100,000 over the new $1M phase-out threshold, reducing your exemption benefit; further, the phase-out rate is now 50% while it was only 25% in 2025.
**phase-out threshold means you make too much so you don't get the tax benefit
So at $1.1M in income, you have $46,800 less room for your ISO exercise than you did a year ago ($137,000 in 2025 vs only $90,200 in 2026).
As you plan for this tax year, remember that events like RSU vests or bonuses add to your registered income and can threaten your AMT exemption twice as fast as they did last year.
For educational purposes only. Not tax, legal, or investment advice.