Form 8801: The Credit for Minimum Tax Paid in Earlier Years
Published November 5, 2026
Form 8801 is titled Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax. Individuals, estates, and trusts use it to figure two things: the minimum tax credit for alternative minimum tax (AMT) paid in earlier years, and any credit carryforward to 2026. The 2025 form is the version for the 2025 return. IRS: Form 8801 (2025)
Why the AMT can leave a credit
The AMT is a separate tax. It applies in addition to your regular tax. The IRS says the AMT comes from two kinds of items. Deferral items, such as depreciation, shift income between years and do not change the total over time. Exclusion items, such as the standard deduction, cause a permanent difference. The minimum tax credit is allowed only for AMT caused by deferral items. IRS: Instructions for Form 8801 (2025)
This is why a credit can come later. In a year when your regular tax is high enough, part of the earlier AMT may come back as a credit. Read alternative minimum tax basics for how the AMT itself is figured.
Who should file
The instructions say to complete Form 8801 if, for 2024, you had an AMT liability with adjustments or preferences other than exclusion items. You also file if you had a credit carryforward to 2025, shown on line 26 of your 2024 Form 8801. A third case is an unallowed qualified electric vehicle credit. The instructions also say to file Form 8801 only if line 21 is more than zero. IRS: Instructions for Form 8801 (2025)
How the form is organized
- Part I, lines 1 through 15, works out the net minimum tax on exclusion items.
- Part II, lines 16 through 26, works out the minimum tax credit and the carryforward to 2026.
- Lines 12 and 13 cover the minimum tax foreign tax credit on exclusion items and the tentative minimum tax on those items.
- Line 21 combines the prior-year amounts. Line 22 is your 2025 regular income tax liability minus allowable credits.
- Line 25 is the minimum tax credit: the smaller of line 21 or line 24. Enter it on Schedule 3 (Form 1040), line 6b. Line 24 is line 22 minus line 23. Line 23 is the 2025 figure from Form 6251, line 9.
- Line 26 is the credit carryforward to 2026. Keep a record of it. IRS: Form 8801 (2025)
Schedule 3 is where many credits land. Read Schedule 3 basics to see where line 6b fits in the list of credits.
Records to keep
Keep last year's Form 8801, because line 26 of that form starts this year's carryforward. Keep your 2024 Form 6251 and the AMT worksheets that go with it. IRS: Instructions for Form 8801 (2025)
Common mix-ups
- The credit does not return all the AMT you paid. Only the part caused by deferral items can be credited.
- The standard deduction is an exclusion item. It does not create a credit.
- The carryforward is a separate amount. It is not the same as the credit you claim in 2025.
- Line 19 starts from the 2024 credit carryforward. Take that amount from your 2024 Form 8801, line 26, when you reach line 19.
Steps to follow
- Find last year's Form 8801 and the carryforward on line 26.
- Work through Part I for the current-year exclusion items.
- Complete Part II and check whether line 21 is more than zero.
- If it is, enter line 25 on Schedule 3, line 6b, and keep line 26 for next year.
Related reading
Read kiddie tax basics if the AMT came from a child's investment income. Read Form 4562 depreciation basics for one common source of deferral items.
General information, not advice for your situation.
Sources: Sources: IRS, Form 8801 (2025), Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8801.pdf); IRS, Instructions for Form 8801 (2025) (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8801.pdf) This is general information, not advice about your specific return.
