For charitable contributions, make sure you've got cancelled checks or other receipts to prove your generosity.

Also, think back about whether you sold a stock or mutual fund during the past year.

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If so, get the original transaction statement, so you can report the correct gain or loss on your tax return.

And once you've gathered your paper documents, consider going "paperless."

Sixty percent of taxpayers are eligible to file their returns online, a practice known as e-filing.
The IRS says 20% of paper tax returns are inaccurate.

That's compared to only 1.5% of e-filed returns.

The reason? E-filers have a chance to fix their mistakes.

“If there's a problem on the return, we give you the opportunity to fix it, send it back to us, so we can process it quickly. Also, the benefit if you've got a refund, which eight out of ten of us this year will be getting a refund, you're gonna get your refund in half the time. You can have that direct deposited into your bank account and get it in as little as ten days,” said one IRS representative.

If you owe taxes, you can authorize an electronic funds withdrawal or pay by credit card.

And if you e-file before April 15th, you can schedule the payment as late as deadline day.

For more information, see IRS.gov or call toll-free 1-800-829-1040.