Saving money at tax time - Los Angeles Local News, Weather, and Traffic

It's that time of year again - tax time. Preparing your taxes doesn't have to be a headache, and there are ways to keep more of your money.

It's a busy time of year for registered financial consultant Mark Lloyd of The Lloyd Group. At his Suwanee office, he offers a variety of tax education classes and says as of late, they've been full.

Lloyd says there was a waiting list for his December classes, and he's repeating the classes in January and February because of the long waiting list.

He says these are the things you want to remember this tax season. First, because of last minute legislation, the season will be condensed this year.

"What we understand from the IRS is that everything has been delayed for this tax season. It's now January 30th. That's the first time that we can file taxes and start having them look at our tax returns," said Lloyd.

Don't panic if you haven't gotten your W-2's from your employer, or your 1099's. They're not required to send them until the end of January. Use that extra time to get all of your paperwork together. Lloyd says take advantage of a new tax law that allows you to convert a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA.

"It used to be more restrictive on when you could convert to a Roth but they're trying to encourage that. Why? Because the IRS receives the taxes on that conversion now, but what the depositer gets is tax free income later," said Lloyd.

He says take advantage of write-offs and try to lower your adjusted gross income. You have until April 15th of this year to do it. You can do that by making deposits to your IRA and increasing contributions to your retirement plan. Taxes are inevitable, but wasting tax opportunities doesn't have to be.

"Try to save as much as you can, put more money in your pocket, save for the future," Lloyd said.

Lloyd says despite the delays, electronic filing is still the quickest way to your refund. For more information, click here