In the deep freeze of winter, it’s hard to think of a coming spring, but April will be here soon with bright sunshine, blooming flowers and… Tax Day! But don’t panic. Filing taxes can be fun — especially if you can get a nice refund from it. Here are five tips to keep in mind for this upcoming tax season.

1. Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute: To take advantage of key tax credits and receive a refund, you must file a tax return. By filing early, you can avoid those last minute problems that cause you to be late or make mistakes. An accurate and timely tax return is not only essential for claiming a refund, but it is also critical for avoiding penalties and benefiting from financial opportunities, such as qualifying for financial aid, a mortgage, or a small business loan.

2. Be careful when selecting your filing status: Your filing status determines the types of tax deductions and credits you receive as well as whether you are on the hook for tax debt triggered by a spouse. If you are unmarried, legally separated, or lived apart from your spouse the last 6 months of the year and have children, you may be eligible to file as “head of household,” which reduces your taxable income. If you are married, “married filing jointly” may be the best choice to minimize your tax and maximize your refund. (If your spouse owes for back taxes, child support or student loans and your refund is intercepted, you may receive your share of the refund back by requesting “Injured Spouse Relief.”) However, injured spouse relief is not available on all state returns. If your spouse’s tax situation is more complex, consider “married filing separate” to preserve your refund and protect yourself from joint liability arising from a future audit of your return.

3. Determine your eligibility for tax credits based on your income, children, dependent relatives and expenses: You may be eligible for tax credits based on basic factors like how much you got paid and how many children or relatives depend on you. For example, the Earned Income Tax Credit provides money to people who worked but did not make a lot of money; the Child and Dependent Care Credit helps to cover child care expenses; and Education Credits helps to cover education expenses. Bring your tax preparer the names and social security numbers of your spouse, children and dependent relatives, income documents (W2, 1099, etc.), documentation of child care, and education expenses for these credits.

4. Pay yourself: By contributing to an IRA or to your retirement plan at work, you may be eligible for a Saver’s Tax Credit. That’s right, saving may give you a tax break. And there is still time. Contributions made to an IRA designated for 2013 by April 15th qualify. (Most people can contribute up to $5,500.) To find out more, click here.

5. Purchase health insurance to avoid future penalties: If you are currently uninsured, you can avoid a penalty on your 2014 tax return by obtaining insurance before March 31, 2014. You may be surprised to find out that you qualify for Medicaid or a Premium Tax Credit, which helps make purchasing health insurance more affordable by offsetting the cost of paying an insurance premium. To find out more, please click here.

Following these tips can give your finances a boost. If your income is under $58,000, you can file for free at www.myfreetaxes.com/dceitc. Need help? If you are single with income less than $35,000, or have a family and income under $52,000, you may be able to get free help with your tax return through Community Tax Aid and the DC EITC Campaign. Here’s to a less tax-ing 2014!

This post was written by Teresa Hinze, Maria Dooner and Pamela Chan of Community Tax Aid, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner.

The release of The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink on January 15—just one week after we marked the 50th Anniversary of the War on Poverty—accomplished what so many of us have been working toward: it elevated the conversation about women and poverty to a national level dialogue. #WhatWomenNeed was trending on social media and people were talking. In the room at the national release event, there was a palpable excitement in the air—excitement filled with the promise of opportunity. And just last night, the President of the United States put women front and center in his State of the Union address, calling for action on pay equity, minimum wage, and pregnancy discrimination. Now, it’s what we do with this opportunity that matters.

The Shriver Report provides a list of 10 Things You Can Do To Power A Woman’s Nation:

1. Get The Shriver Report.
2. Get smart. Build a stable foundation for your future by putting college before kids.
3. Invest in yourself.
4. Use your economic power.
5. Engage men as allies.
6. Vote.
7. Be a 21st century boss.
8. Finance women’s work.
9. Mentor and motivate girls.
10. Be an architect of change.

Be an architect of change – we love this one, and it’s exactly what Washington Area Women’s Foundation is working to achieve. Just a week after the release of The Shriver Report, we met with three of our sister women’s funds—California, Chicago, and Memphis—to better understand the opportunities for women’s funds to engage in moving a national women’s economic security agenda. We spent a day learning about the policy initiatives underway from select national experts on a range of topics—paid sick days, paid family leave, minimum wage, pay equity, job training, higher education, child care, and pregnancy discrimination—the very same topics that are discussed in the Shriver Report. In fact, the report includes polling on these issues. Does it surprise you to know that the majority of the American public (73 percent in fact) strongly favors equal pay for equal work? And there is universal support for this issue among Democrats and Republicans. One of the loudest and longest rounds of applause during the State of Union was in response to the President saying:

“Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. She deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job. A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship – and you know what, a father does, too. It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a ‘Mad Men’ episode. This year, let’s all come together – Congress, the White House, and businesses from Wall Street to Main Street – to give every woman the opportunity she deserves. Because I firmly believe when women succeed, America succeeds.”

We are living in a unique time, and there’s a window of opportunity – never before has the level of conversation and support for women’s economic security been elevated in the way that we’ve seen just over the last month. Politicians, advocates, think tanks, researchers, and the American public are coalescing around a set of issues and policies that can truly make a difference in the lives of so many women in our region. Most recently, we saw the District of Columbia and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland increase the minimum wage – a good first step, but more needs to be done.

Women’s funds are uniquely positioned to make a difference.  First, we are grantmakers supporting both programs and policy initiatives that are making real change for women and girls in our communities, and that inform our policy positions.  And, through our deep understanding of our local contexts and relationships with people and organizations on the ground, we have the power to convene, to amplify their voices, and to mobilize our local stakeholders.  And finally, we have the ability to do this state by state, community by community, in partnership with the 100 plus other women’s funds across the country and other local and national partners. In the coming months, we’ll be researching and assessing the role of Washington Area Women’s Foundation in connecting to local and national policy and communications campaigns that can make a difference in putting more women and girls on a path to prosperity.

The Shriver Report defines women on the brink as women who are living “on the economic line separating the middle class from the working poor and those people living in absolute poverty.” It is the place where one in three Americans lives paycheck to paycheck and just one incident away from financial crisis. It is the place where The Women’s Foundation has squarely focused its work for the last 15 years, and it is the place where we strive to have the most impact in the years ahead. The opportunity is now, but we want to hear from you – tell us what you think women need in order to be economically successful! Join the conversation by leaving a comment below or joining us on Facebook or Twitter.

#WhatWomenNeed should be more than a trending hashtag.  Or perhaps we need a different hashtag – #WhenWomenSucceedAmericaSucceeds. What do you think?

Nicky Goren and Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat are the president and vice president of Washington Area Women’s Foundation.