If you have spent lots of time this past year polishing your resume, attending job fairs, and trying to get interviews for employment, you may be able to deduct those expenses.  In order to qualify for these deductions you must not be a new graduate or looking for your first job or have allowed a substantial amount of time passed since you were a part of the workforce. Go to the IRS site for further detail and as always keep records to validate deductions.   

If you know of someone who is looking for assistance with 2012 income tax preparation and cannot afford to hire an accountant or tax preparer, Cooperative Ministry's VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program is the answer.  The VITA volunteers are IRS-certified and provide help in basic income tax return preparation to individuals from families earning less than $50,000 a year.  In the five years of the program's existence, VITA has processed more than eight thousand tax returns, bringing Midlands citizens more than $10 million in refunds and credits.

The first signs that tax season is upon us have appeared...people dressed as the Statue of Liberty dancing on the sidewalks, commercials from tax-preparation firms interrupting the evening news and football games.  This promises to be an exciting tax season as citizens grapple with the changes to the tax code resulting from the new health-care law as well as the recent skirting of the "fiscal cliff."  The Richland Library has available some copies of the basic federal (1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ) and state (1040) tax forms; staff can also print out other forms, such as Schedule A for itemized deductions, on demand at no charge.  (The instruction bulletins for the federal forms can be obtained from the local IRS office in the Strom Thurmond Federal Building on Assembly St.; for the state 1040 instructions, go to the Dept. of Revenue's office at 300A Outlet Pointe Blvd.  You can also print them for yourself by visiting the IRS and SC Dept. of Revenue websites.)