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The objective of tax planning is to fix up your financial affairs so as to minimize your taxes. The three basic ways to reduce your taxes, and each basic method might have several variations.

Reducing Income

Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is a key element in determining your taxes. Lots of other things depend on your AGI (or modifications to your AGI)-- such as your tax rate and various tax credits. AGI even impacts your financial life outside of taxes: banks, mortgage lenders, and college financial aid programs all routinely ask for your adjusted gross income. This is a key measure of your finances.

Because your adjusted gross income is so important, you may want to begin your tax planning here.

Increase Your Tax Deductions

Taxable income is another key element in your overall tax situation. Taxable income is what's left over after you have reduced your AGI by your deductions and exemptions. Almost everyone can take a standard deduction, and some people are able to itemize their deductions.

Itemized deductions can include expenses for health care, state and local taxes, personal property taxes (such as car registration fees), mortgage interest, gifts to charity, job-related expenses, tax preparation fees, and investment-related expenses.

The best strategies for reducing your taxable income is to itemize your deductions, and the three biggest deductions are mortgage interest, state taxes, and gifts to charity.

Take Advantage of Tax Credits

Once we've tweaked our taxable income, focus on our attention on various tax credits. Tax credits reduce your tax. There are tax credits for college expenses, for saving for retirement, and for adopting children.

The best tax credits are for adoption and college expenses. There are two education-related tax credits. The Hope Credit is for students in their first two years of college. The Lifetime Learning Credit is for anyone taking college classes. The classes do not have to be related to your career.

One of the best, and most abused, tax credit is the Earned Income Credit (EIC). The EIC is credited to your account as a payment. And that means the EIC often results in a tax refund even if the total tax has been reduced to zero. You may be eligible to claim the earned income credit if you earn less than a certain amount.

Increase Your Withholding

You can avoid owing at the end of the year by increasing your withholding. More money will be taken out of your paycheck throughout the year, but you will get bigger refund when you file your taxes.