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Taxes are one of those subjects few of us can ever escape. Instead, we do our best to minimize the pain and deal with our taxes each year as simply as we can. To this end, April 15th is often touted on the local news as the ultimate tax day, but is this really true?

What is April 15th? Any income earning individual can tell you. It is the date personal tax returns must be filed. Post offices stay open late and there is generally a big deal made about the date. In truth, this is really just the day you should actually pay any taxes due. You can get an automatic six month extension to actually file the returns should you so wish.

While April 15th gets the publicity, the truth of the matter is it is not the most critical day for individual taxpayers. Instead, that date is December 31st each year. Why? This is the last day you can take the vast majority of steps required to lower you tax bill for the year. You can take action such as topping off retirement account contributions and taking last minute deductions.

This also bears out a very important issue. You are costing yourself money if you don't plan ahead on taxes. You should be sitting down with your tax professional in September or October to cover what has happened in the first part of the year and what you expect to happen in the last quarter. Based on this information, a plan can then be put together to minimize the tax hit you will take the following April when it is time to file your returns.

Everyone complains about taxes, right? No. Those that plan ahead for the tax season rarely complain about taxes because they pay less. The last few years have been tough financially for most of us. The silver lining is you should have plenty of write-offs to cut your tax bill. Meet with your tax professional to find out.