I admit it–sometimes I procrastinate. Usually this involves grocery shopping or putting away the laundry, but never anything work related. How else could I get a book offer in January and hand it in eight weeks later? This week I’ve been trying to tackle my many magazine assignments and hand them in early, too. Why? Because it frees up time to market myself more. And to be successfully self-employed, you have to spend 20% of your time marketing.

Here’s another area where I do not procrastinate: my taxes. It’s not because I expect to get a refund each year and want to get it faster–heck if you listen to my “No New Spending Recap” podcast, you know that this year, I owe taxes. And like ripping off a Band-Aid (R) or a strip of hair-removing wax, I’d like to get that pain over with as fast as possible.

If by any chance you tend to leave doing and/or mailing your taxes to the last minute, here are five tax-related tips that, hopefully, you can take to the bank, courtesy of Turbo Tax:

1. You have until the April 15 tax deadline to contribute to an IRA for the previous tax year. (With our tax bill, I’ve got no cash left over for an IRA contribution this year. Bummer.)
2. Don’t forget to include charitable contributions made in 2008. Even mileage to and from volunteering is deductible. (I find that jotting down my deductible mileage daily in my online calendar helps me to keep track of all of that.)
3. You don’t have to wait in line at the post office will all of the other procrastinators. If you’re not using a tax professional, you can go online to prepare and e-file taxes up to the 11th hour. If you are using a tax professional, he/she can file electronically on your behalf.
4. Getting a refund? You can get your money in as little as 8 days when you select to receive it via direct deposit. Just make sure that the IRS has all of the routing codes for your bank account.
5. Not going to make the April 15 deadline? File for an extension. Remember, while this gives you an extra 6 months to file (to Oct. 15 2009), this is not an automatic extension on any taxes you owe. For those you must make the April 15 deadline or risk facing penalties and interest.

Here’s a fun sidebar to this procrastinating theme: Turbo Tax came up with the Top 10 Tax-Procrastination Cities. Do you live here?

1. San Francisco, Calif.
2. Houston, Texas
3. New York, N.Y.
4. Chicago, Ill.
5. San Diego, Calif.
6. Phoenix, Ariz.
7. Seattle, Wash.
8. Los Angeles, Calif.
9. Dallas, Texas
10. Las Vegas, Nev.