TAX PROCRASTINATORS, REJOICE. You have until April 18 (April 19 if you live in Maine or Massachusetts) to file your tax return this year. That’s because federal offices in Washington, D.C., will be closed on Friday, April 15, for Emancipation Day. So resolve to use the extra time to make sure you take advantage of all of the tax breaks available to you. Don’t expect a lot of help from the IRS. Last year, fewer than 40% of taxpayers who called the agency reached a customer service representative, and the average wait time for those who did was 30 minutes. This year, the IRS was able to use a $290 million budget increase to hire additional customer service reps. Still, you can expect dropped calls and long wait times. At the end of December, Congress revived some expired tax provisions that could cut your Taxes. Better yet, lawmakers agreed to make some of the tax breaks permanent. And don’t overlook moneysaving tax deductions and credits that have been around for years. For example, if you looked for a job last year in your same line of work, you may be able to deduct your job-hunting costs, even if you didn’t land a new position. You must itemize to claim this tax break, and the expenses can be deducted only to the extent that total miscellaneous expenses exceed 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income. If you changed jobs last year and moved at least 50 miles farther from your home than your old job (or 50 miles from home if it was your first job), you can deduct a long list of moving expenses. You don’t have to itemize to claim this write-off.

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Help for homeowners. Lenders typically require buyers who put down less than 20% to buy private mortgage insurance. Congress revived the break allowing itemizers to deduct PMI premiums— as long as you obtained your mortgage in 2007 or later and the loan is for your primary residence or a second home that’s not a rental property. The deduction phases out if your 2015 adjusted Gross Income exceeds $100,000 and disappears if your AGI exceeds $109,000. This tax break is good for 2015 and 2016. There’s relief for taxpayers who had mortgage debt written off due to fore-closure or a short sale, which occurs when a home is sold for less than the mortgage balance. Ordinarily, forgiven debt is taxable, but Congress extended through the end of this year a provision that excludes from taxes up to $2 million in forgiven mortgage debt on a principal residence. The exclusion will also apply to mortgage debt forgiven in 2017 if the agreement to discharge the debt was signed in 2016. Write off Sales Taxes. Congress also revived and made permanent a deduction for state and local sales taxes that you can take instead of the write-off for state income taxes. This deduction primarily benefits residents of the nine states with no income tax, but taxpayers who live in states with low income taxes, along with seniors who live in states with special breaks for retiree income, could also get a bigger tax break by deducting their sales taxes. Taxpayers who made a big purchase last year may also get a bigger deduction by claiming sales taxes, says Lisa Greene-Lewis, a CPA with TurboTax. Go to www.irs.gov and search for “sales tax calculator” to figure out how much you can deduct in sales taxes, based on your income and your state and local sales tax rates. An opportunity to deduct college bills. If you paid college tuition bills last year, don’t overlook the American Opportunity tax credit. This credit is worth up to $2,500 per eligible student during the first four years of college. Now it’s permanent, so you no longer have to worry about losing the tax break before your child gets a degree. You can claim the credit for qualified expenses you paid for a dependent child, yourself or your spouse. If you have more than one child in college at the same time, you can claim multiple credits.

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Married couples filing jointly qualify for the full credit if their modified Adjusted Gross income is $160,000 or less; for single filers, the cutoff is $80,000. Married couples with MAGI of up to $180,000 and singles with MAGI of up to $90,000 can claim a reduced amount. When claiming qualified expenses toward the credit, make sure you report the amount you paid, not the amount you were billed, says Aaron Blau, an enrolled agent in Tempe, Ariz. For example, if you received a tuition bill in December but didn’t pay it until January, you can’t use that amount toward your American Opportunity credit for 2015, he says. By now, you should have received a Form 1098-T from your child’s college or university. Look at Box 1, which will show you how much you paid in qualified educational expenses during the year. (Some schools report the amount that was billed during the year in Box 2; in that case, use receipts of your payments.) If you claim expenses that don’t match what’s on the form, expect the IRS to reject the credit. Starting in tax year 2016, taxpayers will be required to have a 1098-T in order to claim the American Opportunity credit, along with other educational tax credits. Tax breaks for good deeds. As you scramble to finish your tax return, don’t overlook charitable contributions you made during the year online or via payroll deduction in addition to donations made using credit cards and checks. You’re required to keep records for all donations, even small ones. For contributions of less than $250, keep the bank record, credit card statement, receipt or written acknowledgment from the charity. If you made a donation via text message—a popular option after a natural disaster—your cell-phone bill should be sufficient. For donations of cash or property valued at $250 or more, you should have an acknowledgment in writing from the charity, which should state whether you received any goods or services in exchange for your gift. Congress reanimated an expired tax provision that allows taxpayers age 70½ and older to transfer up to $100,000 from their IRAs to charity. The contribution counts toward donors’ required minimum distributions without increasing their adjusted gross income. If you didn’t transfer the money from your IRA to charity before December 31, you can’t take advantage of this tax break to reduce your 2015 AGI. But if you want to make a charitable transfer in 2016, you don’t have to wait until December to see whether the provision will once again be extended. It’s here to stay. New health care rules. If you have health insurance through your job, you should receive a Form 1095 from your employer confirming your coverage. Some employers provided this form to their workers last year, but it wasn’t mandatory. Employees of large companies will receive a 1095-C; those who work for small companies, as well as those covered by military or government insurance plans, will receive a 1095-B. Employers send a copy of the form to the IRS, too. You don’t need to attach the 1095 form to your return, and if you filed before you received the document, you don’t need to amend your return. As was the case last year, you simply check a box on your tax return to show that you had health insurance coverage in 2015. Keep a copy of the 1095 with your tax records. If you bought health insurance through one of the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act, you should have received IRS Form 1095-A. This form shows the amount of any subsidy