Every April 15th is a gut punch for so many Americans. You work super hard to earn a living, yet it feels like half of it goes to taxes. If it's not income taxes, it's payroll taxes. If it's not payroll taxes, it's property taxes. If it's not property taxes, it's sales taxes. It never ends!

Even though you feel tender, there are legal ways to soften the blow. You can lower your tax bill without doing any shady. Your opportunities depend on your personal situation.

If you are in the 90% of earners, keep reading. The items below offer a few ways you could reduce Uncle Sam's cut of your paycheck.

Max out your employee benefits.

For individuals, the best tax planning opportunities have to do with employee benefits.

The government gives incentives to companies for taking care of their employees. For you, this is a great opportunity to receive this extra income and not owe income taxes on it. Take advantage of every benefit that you can. Your employer may offer income-tax-free benefits like:

Child care assistance
Health insurance
HSA or FSA plans
401K retirement contribution matching
Employee stock options

Even the little things add up. Free lunch and free coffee are minimal benefits, but they're still non-taxable. A $3 cup of coffee looks quite expensive when you're buying it with after-tax earned income.

You may owe social security and Medicare taxes on these benefits, which is 7.65%.

Contribute to your individual retirement savings (IRAs)

Even if you don't work for a company that offers retirement benefits, you can still save and get a tax deduction. You could open and contribute to your own individual IRA. a traditional IRA gives you a tax deduction now.

The key issue to understand here is how it will impact your cash on hand. You can contribute throughout the year or anytime you want, up to when you file your taxes. Many people contribute right before they file their taxes. Then they have to pay into the IRA and pay any tax bills due. Plan far in advance and avoid that hurt.

Use savvy state deductions

Your state may have some squirrelly tax deductions available to claim. The tough part is finding out about them.

For example, on a Connecticut return, you can deduct up to $200 for property taxes IF you’re over 65 or have dependents. This won’t make a huge difference in your final tax bill, but you’ve already every dollar helps!

Make sure your accountant is familiar with the tax laws in your state. Unless they like to read tax forms and the law, they can be hard to find.

Take advantage of child care credits

It is insane how much daycare costs. I know many women that work full time only to cover child care!

While child care is a huge financial pain, you're entitled to some relief via a powerhouse tax credit.

Be sure to get a statement at the end of the saying how much you paid for each kid!

Use credits for your current college expenses

If you’re in school and paying for expenses out of pocket, you may qualify for education credits. The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) is worth up to $2,500 per student, per year, but you can only use it four times. This credit phases out at a lower taxable income than many other credits. BUT up to 40% is refundable (meaning if your tax bill is negative then the IRS will pay you - not refund, but PAY).

After you use up the AOTC, you can claim the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC). It’s worth up to $2,000 per year per student and there’s no cap on how many years you can claim it. But, unlike the AOTC, this credit is not refundable.

If you have student loans, you can take a deduction for the interest in those payments, up to to $2,500 a year.

Save for future college expenses

A college savings plan, aka a 529 plan, is like a Roth IRA. It’s not a tax deduction now, but it grows tax-free if later spent on approved expenses.

You may be able to deduct the contributions on your state taxes. But, for federal purposes, the benefit comes years later when your kid goes to college.

A few tax planning notes and terms to understand:

There’s a big difference between deductions and credits.

Deductions reduce taxable income, the amount upon which you calculate taxes.

Credits come after you've calculated your taxes and reduce what you owe dollar for dollar.

Thus, credits are way more beneficial than deductions.

A note to my high earners:

Many of the tax planning opportunities above phase out when you reach the 90% percentile. For my high earners in the 90th percentile or above, you will phase out of many of these deductions.

You can't claim retirement savings, student loan interest, or child tax credit. You'll still get the employee benefits and can contribute to a 529 college savings plan.

Itemized deductions are now a thing of the past:

Post-tax reform, the number of people taking the standard deduction has gone up like a rocket. Like about 400%!

When you file your taxes, the government grants you a small amount of income that you don't have to pay taxes on. This is the standard deduction. But, you may be better off not to take the standard deduction.

If you have a significant amount of expenses in certain categories, you could “itemize.” That means you total up the specific expense categories. If it exceeds the standard deduction amount, it's in your benefit to itemize.

Itemizing is rare now that the standard deduction is worth a lot more. Thus, tax reform killed off many of the typical tax planning strategies for 90% of taxpayers. Itemizable expenses include medical payments; state & local taxes; mortgage interest; donations; and a few miscellaneous items. Effectively, you're now disincentivized to spend in those areas.

For instance, the benefits of homeownership are gone. That used to be a big reason to buy a home—you can reduce your taxes! Homeowners could write off their property taxes and mortgage interest.

Now, everyone is less likely to itemize so the homeownership tax benefits are moot. You get the same standard deduction, regardless of if you own a house or rent.

The tax laws are complex, they change every year, and it's a lot of work to keep up with. While most in the 90% cannot afford a complex tax strategy, they can claim some deductions and credits.

The tax planning options available to you depend on your life. Some strategies, like funding a 529 or retirement plan, mean you must devote a lot of cash to those accounts. You'll get a fraction of that as a tax deduction. Others, like the Child Tax Credit, only apply if you have kids.

The main tax planning opportunities for 90% of people in the US are:

max out employee benefits
save for retirement
save for future education expenses
deduce child care costs
and in-the-know state deductions

There are many other opportunities, especially if you are a business owner. (I'll cover those in a future blog.) Be sure to ask your accountant to see if you can qualify for any deductions or credits based on the facts of your life.

But let’s end on a positive note. Let’s talk about how much in taxes the top 1% pays! It’s a myth that they don’t pay taxes. They may pay a fancy accountant to develop a complex tax plan, but they still pay. A lot.

In fact, in 2017, the top 1% paid more income taxes than the bottom 90% combined. I hope that takes the sting out of paying your taxes!