Even though April 15th is the deadline for filing your income tax return, there are benefits to working on and completing your return as early as possible.

It is difficult for most people to work on their tax return before February 1st. Documentation of income and expenses does not come in the mail until late January. People with more complicated investments, especially K-1 partnership forms, may have to wait until late March before they have all of the necessary information to file an accurate return. But even for those people, it pays to work on your return in early February so that you can just fill in the last remaining items and file your return.

There are two main reasons for filing early. The most obvious is to get a refund back as soon as possible. IRS does not pay you interest on this money. Why let them keep it any longer than you have to. The more important reason for filing early, in my opinion, is to know how much money you owe.

One of the most difficult parts of my job is to tell someone that they have a large balance due. It is bad enough to tell people they owe a lot of money, but it is not nearly as painful if you find out in February. That gives them two months to come up with the money.

Even though filing an income tax return is not the most fun thing to do, try and make yourself work on it early. Whether you have a refund or a balance due, filing early will make you feel good and give you piece of mind.