April 15th is less than a month away, have you filed your tax forms yet?

If you are one of the millions of people who have yet to file his income tax, perhaps you are looking for a last minute deduction or two. <br><br>News on Six reporter Rick Wells talked with the IRS about

Saturday, March 30th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

If you are one of the millions of people who have yet to file his income tax, perhaps you are looking for a last minute deduction or two.

News on Six reporter Rick Wells talked with the IRS about ways to save a little money. With less than a month to go the government says only about half of us have filed our 2001 tax return.

Most of us, about 70%, will get a refund. Looking for a couple more deductions to help that refund along? David Stell an IRS spokesman who regularly appears on Six in the Morning has a couple of timely tax tips. First did you get your rebate last year? You don't have to report it as income; Uncle Sam just gave us some of our money back. "If you got $300, $500, or $600 depending on your filing status, you don't worry about anything on your tax return, it doesn't interfere with your return. If you got less than $300, $500, or $600, if you are single, head of household, or married filing jointly, then there's a new line on the form, called rate reduction credit, it's a second chance to maybe get the full amount." If you don't need to use it for that second chance forget it.

Now are you one of those folks paying back a student loan? You can deduct the interest within certain limits. "For 2001 it's up to $2,500 in interest on a student loan you can deduct, and the good news is it's on the front of the tax return, which means you don't have to itemize your deductions, to take advantage of that. There are some restrictions based on your salary. For a single person you can't take that deduction if you income's more than $40,000, or if you're married filing jointly more than $60,000, actually it phases out at that level, but for people below those levels it's a great deduction."

And don't forget mileage deductions, 34.5 cents a mile for using your car for business. Driving to get medical care or as part of a job related move is 12 cents a mile, and driving for charity is worth 14 cents a mile. Some of those rates will increase for 2002.

For more tax help you can call the IRS at 1-800-Tax-1040 or log on to IRS' website at www.irs.gov