We’re less than two weeks away from April 15, and while many are basking in the glow of a nice tax refund (though we shouldn’t be letting the government use our money for free, but that’s a different post), others are just starting their tax return preparation for this year. As such, it seemed appropriate to give them some last-minute advice courtesy of three pieces from Yahoo:

* The 11 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions — There’s no need to pay more taxes than you owe, and this piece will help identify deductions often overlooked. We even found one that could save us some nice coin.

* 5 Hidden Tax Breaks for Homeowners — At least there’s some good news on the housing front — being an owner gets you several tax breaks. We especially like the “energy efficient home improvements” tax credits. If you didn’t take advantage of them in 2008, you now have another year to do so. And 2009’s options are much broader thanks to the recent government stimulus. New windows, anyone?

* 10 Things the IRS Won’t Tell You — The most pertinent for those of you still waiting to do your taxes is #8: “April 15 isn’t necessarily a hard deadline.” Really? Yep. But you still need to file if you want to go past the 15th. One simple form will get an extra six months for those ultra-procrastinators out there.

So, now that we’ve covered paying our taxes, isn’t it about time to discuss the more fun topic of what to do with the refunds we receive?

— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: Alberto Cueto)

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