The opening day for tax season is a little later this year due to the last minute tax law changes made by Congress under the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA).

Even though the 2013 filing season begins in a few weeks, tax payers can start preparing now.

"Now there are some things to do to get ready now to get ready for that January 30th deadline to come around. You want to start getting your documents together, it is really important to make sure you have your W-2 and 1099's and any other information you need for that tax return all together before you actually sit down and file that return," IRS Spokesperson Peggy Reiley said.

According to Reiley, the best option for tax payers is to file electronically.

"It really is the best way and the most accurate way and with the number of tax changes that were made really late in the tax season this year, people may not realize that they qualify for student expenses, tuition and fee reductions and education credits. There is also a teacher expense deduction, where the teacher is paying for their own classroom expenses. There is a lot of things that were extended at the last minute," Reiley said.

Those who wish to use the paper forms, can pick them up beginning on January 30th from the IRS offices. Forms will not be available before then due to extensive amounts of changes and updates to the forms.

A majority of the tax filers, more than 120 million households should be able to start filing tax returns by January 30th. The remaining households should expect to start filing in late February or early March because of the need for more extensive forms and processing system changes. These people include those claiming residential energy credits, depreciation of property or general business credits.

April 15th at midnight will be the final day tax payers can file their taxes.