The IRS estimates that Americans spend 6.1 billion hours a year on tax prep. That's almost as many hours that 3 million full-time employees work in a year.

You can easily cut down the number of hours you spend preparing your 2012 taxes by taking a few simple steps now. Trust us, tackling tax season in bite-size chunks will make the whole process less daunting.

Here are seven simple, painless tips to save time, money, a headache and hassle down the road:

Next: Get organized!