How to maximize your tax refund this year
Here are the essential tax deductions and credits to know about for a bigger refund.

With tax day around the corner, it's the perfect time to make sure you're maximizing your refund. Andy Phillips, VP of the Tax Institute at H&R Block, joined TheStreet to highlight essential deductions and credits that can help you keep more money in your pocket this season.
Related: Tax Day is coming — How to avoid these costly mistakes
Full Video Transcript Below:
ANDY PHILLIPS: So the way that people can get the maximum refund possible is to make sure that they really understand their situation, because taxes are super personalized and so are tax benefits. So you want to know what applies to you. For instance, you may be eligible for certain credits, like maybe you, your spouse, or one of your dependents has gone to college. You may be eligible for an education credit. Maybe you bought a home or you started a business. Let's talk about that for a minute. If you're a business owner, you want to make sure you're taking advantage of every single deduction, whether it's equipment for your business, expenses you've paid for a home office, or certain retirement contributions can be deducted against your business income because you only want to pay tax on the amount that. After you take out all of those, what we call tax deductible expenses.