Here comes the tax man!

Are you ready?

Odds are that you're struggling through your first bout of full-year taxes. Here are some tips to get you through your first filing and to point you toward special breaks just for you.

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	Prepare yourself... the tax man commeth!

First, you'll need the forms and instruction booklets, which can usually be found at the post office. If not, the post office should be able to tell you where to get them. Otherwise, just download the forms and directions from the IRS website.

You can go three routes when filing: 1040EZ, 1040A, and 1040. The forms get increasingly complex, and for most first-time filers, you only need the 1040EZ. But if you have a student loan you're currently paying off or you paid tuition during the year, get 1040A. It will let you deduct those expenses and get more back from Uncle Sam. The straight 1040 means you've probably got receipts, children and a whole gamut of "itemizable" deductions to cope with.

To fill out the 1040EZ, you'll need to find all the tax forms mailed to you by your employer(s) and your bank. If you're filling out the 1040A, you'll also need the form 1098-T that was mailed to you detailing your tuition costs.

Walking through the form is easy:

Line 1: Add all your W-2s together to get your total wages, salaries and tips. You should have received them around the end of January. If not, contact your company's human resources department or the person who hired you.

Line 2: Add all interest earned on any bank accounts you may have. These are reported on form 1099-INT. You should have received them around the end of January. If not, contact your bank and request they send another.

Line 3: This is for any unemployment compensation you might have received.

Line 4: Sum the previous three.

Line 5: If you're single, enter $7,700. If married and filing jointly, enter $13,850.

Line 6: Subtract Line 5 from Line 4. This is your taxable income. Now skip to Line 10. Using the number in line six, find the corresponding range to figure the tax you should have paid. Enter that number in line 10.

Line 7: Add the Federal Income tax withheld according to your W-2s.

Line 8: If you had any Earned Income Tax Credits, enter them here, but it's unlikely you did.

Line 9 is probably the same as line 7, but if you did have an earned income tax credit, add lines 7 and 8.

Now subtract Line 10 from Line 9. This is your refund. If Line 10 is larger than Line 9, then the result is the amount of money you owe the government.

Viola! Now just make a copy for your records and send in the form to the IRS. But wait! If you paid interest on a student loan or paid tuition during the year, you might be able to get more money back by filing a 1040A.

The steps for a 1040A are largely identical to the 1040EZ, but you may want to pay attention to these lines to reduce your taxable income:

Line 18: Student loan interest deduction. This info should be provided by the bank that holds your student loan. Plunk the amount down on line 18 and reduce your taxable income.

Line 19: Tuition and fees. If you paid tuition during the year, you may be able to deduct up to $3,000. You won't be able to deduct this amount, however, if you qualify for and choose instead to take Education credits in Line 31 (generally preferable).

Line 31: Education credits include the lifetime learning credit and hope credit. In order to calculate how large your tax credit may be, you'll need to get form 8863. This can reduce the amount of taxes you must pay by up to $1,500. Tax credits are preferable to tax deductions because tax deductions only reduce your taxable income (the amount used by the government to compute how much tax to charge) whereas tax credits are actually subtracted from the amount of tax you owe.

Using these deductions and credits may not reduce your tax burden to zero but will certainly help take some of the sting out. Just be sure to file by April 15. If you don't, you may be subject to fines or penalties.