Pension or IRA contributions. These are especially important if you are self-employed. Unless you expect tax rates to shoot up, you want to pay your tax tomorrow rather than today.

Capital gains and losses. 2011 has been another wacky, volatile ride for investors, but the market is likely to show gains for this year. If you have capital gains, remember that any net capital losses over the $3,000 allowed on your 2010 tax return should be carried forward to offset those 2011 gains. If you still have net losses, up to $3,000 may be used to offset ordinary income for 2011.

All net long-term gains are subject to a maximum 15% rate. If you're in the 15% or lower tax bracket, your tax hit falls to zero.

If you're single with taxable income of $34,500 or less, you get the 0% rate. With a standard deduction of $5,800 and a $3,700 personal exemption, you can have as much as $44,000 in gross income and still qualify.

If you have net capital gains, sell losers to offset those gains. If you have more losers, sell at least enough to get the $3,000 offset against ordinary income. If you have shares of stock pregnant with gains and you don't expect them to appreciate further, sell those shares and shelter the gains with the losses on your losers. Worst case: Pay the maximum 15% tax. You can't go broke taking profits.

AMT: A headache you may face

I fully expect another year of last-minute relief on the alternative minimum tax. And if we don't get it, I encourage you to yell loudly at your representative and senators for not getting the job done.

More and more middle-income taxpayers are being hit with the AMT each year, which is basically a parallel tax system designed to ensure that everyone pays some tax. But it's forcing too many people to pay more tax than they should.

Each year, Congress has extended the AMT exemption. For 2010, it increased the exemption to $72,450 in taxable income for married couples filing jointly and $47,450 for single taxpayers. For 2011, these numbers were increased to $74,450 for joint returns and $48,450 for singles.

Buy stuff

Last year you could make energy-efficient improvements to your home and qualify for a credit of 30% of the cost with a maximum of $1,500. Insulation, energy-efficient windows, and heating and air-conditioning systems all qualified. For 2011, the credit was cut to 10%, up to only $500 (reduced by any credit claimed since 2006), with a cap of $50 to $300 on fans, furnaces, water heaters, heat pumps and central air conditioning, and a $200 cap on windows.