If you took advantage of the home improvement tax credit offered by the federal government for the 2010 tax year, it could have been a significant chunk of change depending on the home improvements you undertook. That's the good news. The bad news lies in the fact that the tax credit has been reduced significantly for the 2011 tax year. That means you can still do home improvements that qualify this year, but the tax credit is not going to be nearly as much. If you itemize on your tax return even a small credit is better than no credit.