Tips for Lowering Your Taxes

It comes around every year like clockwork. Springtime. And with the arrival of the sun comes the arrival of tax time. You've spent a whole year making and spending money. Now it's time to pay up.

For most people, tax time is one of their most dreaded seasons. Not just because you've got to pony up to the government but also because of the bureaucracy and the paperwork and the fear of getting something wrong and paying for it for years to come. They don't make it easy, they don't make it pleasant. And for most of us, they don't make it cheap.

Depending on what country you live in, there are different policies and tricks to use to save money --and time-- on your taxes. But while every place is different, there are some universal things that can help most people lower their taxes no matter where they live. All they have to do is plan ahead and plan smart.

In today's difficult financial climate, we all want to lower our taxes as much as possible. Looking to see a lower number in your "amount owed" box? Read of for a few smart tips for saving money on your taxes.

Know the System

In every country, calculating and paying taxes is an incredibly complicated system. Each year new rules are put into place, with new breaks or new taxes for different classes of incomes. Unless you work as a tax accountant, chances are you don't know about everything you need to allow you to pay the smallest amount possible on your taxes. Well, it's time to learn! If you want to save on your taxes, take the time to bone up on your country's tax laws, and learn what is new during your filing year and how those new policies affect you.

The best way to do this? If you can't pay for a personal tax accountant, look for some great tax software. The best tax software takes changes in tax law into account when calculating your taxes, and will help you get the best deal you can.

Search for Tax Breaks

Tax time usually hits the self-employed harder than any other group. Not only do small business owners tend to pay higher taxes than many individuals, they also have a lot more paperwork to worry about. And the last thing they want to do is add more work to the pile.

But if you're self employed or own your own business, adding more work to the pile might just save you thousands on your taxes. If you look into all of the tax breaks, write offs, etc., available to you, chances are there are quite a few you're not using. When calculating your taxes, you should always look at the following business expenses if they apply to your business:

- Mileage and gas
- Travel expenses (business only, of course!)
- Per diem
- Business-specific purchases (if, say, your business is a blog about internet dating websites, a paid membership to an internet dating site may be a business expense)
- Costs of running the office

Invest your Money

If you have money sitting around as taxable income (and you don't plan on spending it) you may want to look at investing it in order to avoid paying taxes on it during that year. (Of course, this depends on what country you live in.) If you're a resident of the United States, you can invest as much as $5,000 into your IRA or 401k before your taxes are due to be paid. This will come out of your taxable income and help pay for your future retirement.

Claim Your Losses

If you invest in the stock market, chances are you haven't had a very good year. The economy is suffering, the stock market has plummeted, and investors are reporting losses all around. Fortunately, when it comes to tax time you can use this to your advantage. When your losses exceed your gains for the year, you can generally write them off. While U.S. residents can't write off more than $1,500 in losses at a time individually, they can keep writing off up to $1,500 year after year until those losses have all been written off.

It's no fun losing money on your investments. If you make money, paying taxes on your earnings probably doesn't feel like so much of a burden. But if you lose money, that "tax pain" at the end of the year doesn't have to be as great. Most countries' tax laws give investment losses a bit of a silver lining, providing some tax breaks for those who have made bad investments. If you've had a bad year, research you're countries policies on losses and use those policies to your best advantage.

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