Recent Grads Should Keep Tabs

I remember getting my first paycheck after graduation. After years of working part-time and having to move back in with my mother for graduate school, I was officially independent. I was an auditor for Ernst & Young and that paycheck was more money than I had ever seen in one lump sum.

To celebrate, I took my friends out and picked up the bar bill. Then next morning I woke up hung over and broke.

So while that never happened again, the tendency for young employees to blow their paychecks on frivolous stuff is clearly there.

And while you should enjoy your newfound, hard-earned money, you should also try to be smart with it.

Because with that new paycheck comes responsibility -- like your very own tax return.

Not only will you need to file a tax return in April, but you should actually consider doing some year-end tax-planning. That involves keeping tabs on your recent moves, so you have money to pick up bar tabs for your friends.

Get Credit for College

First, start gathering all your paperwork related to your college tuition, and make sure you have the proper documentation come tax time. Otherwise you still have time to call your college for details.

Now start evaluating what credits you may be able to take. While the Hope and Lifetime Learning credits are available for a portion of your tuition bill, there are income limitations on those credits. So if your parents' adjusted gross income, or AGI, was too high, they didn't even qualify for them.