Don't You Miss a Tax Credit or Deduction

Editor's note: As a special feature for March, TheStreet.com offers an ongoing series on everything you need to know about taxes. Today is Part 3.

I don't like to miss a thing. I'm at every one of my kid's baseball games, have emails sent to me every time Hollywood burps, and have the salespeople at my favorite stores call me when new things come in.

But I especially don't like to miss things on my tax return -- and you shouldn't either. The last thing you want to do is miss a tax credit or deduction and let Uncle Sam keep more of your money. So here are some deductions and credits that many taxpayers tend to miss.

First, a quick tax lesson: A credit is way better than a deduction. Credits reduce your tax bill dollar for dollar. Deductions, on the other hand, reduce the amount of income being taxed. So please pay attention to your credits.

The Invisible Deduction

As part of December's last-minute tax package, Congress extended the sales-tax deduction, the $250 educators' expense deduction and the tuition and fees deduction.

But because these deductions weren't extended until after the 2006 tax forms were printed, there are no lines for them on your return. So you either need to read the Form 1040 directions very carefully or use a tax-preparation program such as TurboTax or TaxCut and let it put the numbers in the right place.

We've tackled these deductions before; here's a quick refresher:

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