NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Tax season is upon us. And while nobody likes shelling out their hard-earned dollars to the IRS, this year the government is offering up some new opportunities that could save you big money.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus bill, Congress introduced several new tax goodies that could help millions of Americans save — as long as they know to claim them.

“The purpose of these credits is to give back the maximum amount of money to taxpayers so that Americans spend a little more and help the economy,” said Jerry Morphis, CPA and owner of Accutax & Accounting, “but the new credits are not common knowledge.”

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The tax man has gotten a lot more aggressive in slapping liens on taxpayers who are seriously delinquent in their payments.

In fact, the Internal Revenue Service issued 475% more liens last year than it did in 1999.

CHICAGO – Some Americans are learning a jarring lesson about unemployment as they prepare their tax returns.

At a time when the newly laid-off are swelling unemployment rolls to record numbers, the painful surprise for many is that jobless benefits are taxed like income. That leaves many on the hook for hundreds or thousands of dollars because the taxes aren’t automatically withheld from benefit checks.