The ability to research and better understand your tax situation and personal finances is invaluable in these economic times, and 1040.com offers the most in-depth Tax Tools around. From our Tax Estimator to Financial Calculators and fillable forms offered by the federal government and all states with a tax program, the tax information is practically endless.

As American taxpayers, we have the right to contest our tax liability in court. What we don't have, however, is the right to willingly violate or disobey federal tax law. There are those who have advocated willful disregard for the tax laws, and they have used a variety of false or misleading arguments for not filing or paying taxes. As an illustration, the IRS has released a few of the worst offenders.

So you got your income tax return done and sent on time. Congratulations! You may be enjoying that nice refund about now. But before the joy of the moment overwhelms your memory, think back to those days before April 17, when you were fighting to get that return completed and sent in.

The IRS has opened its filing season successfully this month, and refunds have started going out to many taxpayers. As with the start of any tax season, there are system validations that occur requiring some fine-tuning of our systems. As part of this, some taxpayers will receive refunds approximately one week later than initial projections they may have received, but these are still in line with historical refund delivery times.

You've put away the Christmas decorations and swept up all that confetti left over from New Year's. NOW it's time to work on that "elephant in the living room" - your taxes.