It's the start of a new financial year and that means it's time to start thinking about your taxes.

So, we've asked you for some tips and tricks to save time (and money) on your return.

Do you put aside time each week during the year to keep a record of your receipts or remember to claim for something most people forget?

This is what some of you told us (along with advice from an accountant and the tax office).

We are interested in your feedback on this story — please click here to complete a short survey.

What are some common claims people forget about?

According to accountant Rebecca Morgan from the National Tax and Accountants' Association, there are a couple of items that people might not be aware they can claim, including:

Income protection insurance

Income protection insurance Donations

Donations Cost of accountant and travel to see them

Ms Morgan said one of the big items people miss is income protection insurance — so, not life insurance, but the component related to their income.

The insurance, also known as salary continuance, is meant to help you manage your expenses if you are unable to work for a certain amount of time if you are sick or injured.

You might have it through your superannuation, but you can't claim those premiums. It's for insurance you've taken out separate to your super.

Another common claim that people might miss is for donations you've made in the past financial year.

"People forget to claim for donations but it's important to keep track of your receipts because it's fully deductible," Ms Morgan said.

And the other big one is the fees paid to a tax agent for the previous year's tax return.

"That's tax deductible so it's important to keep that in mind," Ms Morgan said.

Know what you can claim for work

The ATO has prepared a useful guide for claims relevant to your chosen industry here.

"However, it is important to note that there is no such thing as a standard claim," ATO assistant commissioner Karen Foat said.

"Even if your co-workers make a claim, you can only make a similar claim if you meet the three golden rules."

So keep in mind:

You must have spent the money yourself and weren't reimbursed

You must have spent the money yourself and weren't reimbursed It must be directly related to earning your income

It must be directly related to earning your income You must have a record to prove it

Working from home

These days a lot of people work from home — even just as a matter of convenience.

Ms Morgan said you could claim 52 cents per hour (it used to be 45 cents) that you work from home and that covered your utility costs and depreciation on office furniture.

"That simplifies things as long as you keep a diary of how many hours you've used your office, so at the end of the year you've got a record and you can apply it against that rate," she said.

You can claim for self-education or reading up for your job

If you're doing independent study or self-education related to your current job, you can claim some expenses associated with it as long as:

it maintains or improves your employment skills or you're learning something related to your job

it maintains or improves your employment skills or you're learning something related to your job it results in an increase in your income from your current employer

Those expenses can include things like course fees, student union fees, textbooks, stationery, internet, home office expenses, professional journals and some travel.

You can even claim for the cost of travel to and from your place of study, although they may have to be apportioned.

And don't forget to claim if you've had to attend seminars or conferences for work.

The cents-per-kilometre rate for work travel has gone up

Ms Morgan said it was important to remember home-to-work travel was *not* deductible.

"But if ... you're going to an alternative place of work (e.g. going to a client's office for the day), you can claim for that and any associated parking," she said.

"If there's any overnight trips for travel, you can basically claim deductibles for your travel costs and obviously food costs as well."

And if you're using your own car for work travel, you have two options:

One is adopting the cents-per-kilometre rate, which has increased for the 2019 tax season. Traditionally, that was 66 cents per kilometre but that has now gone up to 68 cents.

"All people need to do is keep evidence, whether it's in the form of diary records or if they take regular trips, a reasonable calculation of what kilometres they did, and that's just capped at 5,000 kilometres if you're using the cents method," she said.

The other method is by keeping track of all your expenses and using a logbook.

Claim the zone tax offset if you live in a remote area

There are two designated zones for claiming the zone tax offset, Zone A and Zone B. ( supplied: JJL )

Basically, the zone tax offset is a concession for people who live in isolated areas and recognises "the disadvantage to which those persons are subject because of uncongenial climatic conditions, isolation and cost of living".

Justine S said you should check to see if you live in one of the areas covered by the zone offset.

There are two designated zones for claiming the zone tax offset, Zone A and Zone B. And within these zones, there are "special areas", representing particularly isolated areas that are more than 250 kilometres, taking the shortest route, from a population centre of at least 2,500 people.

It's available to people who have:

lived in a remote or isolated area of Australia (not including an offshore oil or gas rig), or

lived in a remote or isolated area of Australia (not including an offshore oil or gas rig), or served overseas as a member of the Australian Defence Force or a United Nations armed force

The offset is made up of a fixed amount and a based amount (although both are determined by your circumstances).

You also need to have lived in the area for 183 days or more during the financial year.

Here's one way you can keep all those receipts in one place

Peter W suggested creating a Google Drive folder called tax receipts and adding other folders within that where you can save receipts on purchases you can claim.

"Then as you go through the year, upload photos of your receipts to the correct folders, renaming the files as you go so you or your accountant can claim the tax at EOFY," he said.

According to the tax office, keeping a poor record of receipts can cost you at tax time.

"Too often we see taxpayers bring in a shoebox full of receipts to prove a claim, but often the receipt has been lost or is too faded to provide proof of purchase," Ms Foat said.

"And unfortunately a credit card statement will usually not have enough detail to support a claim."

But Ms Morgan said these days, you could keep them all electronically.

"There are a number of apps where you can take a photo of your invoice and it keeps a record of it for you, even the ATO has their own app which helps you keep your records in order."

Or if you're really keen, you can create your own spreadsheet, like Rosemary J:

"I keep an Excel spreadsheet with all financial details required, including all donations to charities and NFPs [not-for-profits] and I have a folder in my emails with all receipts sent by email."

Should you use an accountant or do it yourself?

Ms Morgan said there were benefits to both using an account or doing it yourself. ( Flickr: Dave Dugdale )

William J said he has been seeing the same "scrupulously honest" tax accountant for most of his working life.

"It's these people who live and dream deductions and calculations, and in my case never fail to return me some nice dollars, which I could never achieve if I tried the task on my own!" he said.

But does seeing an accountant really make you better off? Ms Morgan said there were benefits to both.

"I guess what an accountant can do for a worker is that they can identify all the claims and also identify all these tax offsets they're entitled to," she said.

"And because whatever you pay them can be tax deductible, the cost can be pretty reasonable because it's offset."

On the other hand, if you've done your research and you're convinced you can't claim any deductions, you can fill out your tax return online.

"But if you're unsure of what your deductions are or what you need to prove your deductions … an agent can give you the confidence on what you can claim and what you need to provide if there is a tax audit," she said.

Some of you struggle to save and think tax can help

Quite a few people wrote in to say they paid extra tax as forced savings.

Lizze F said she ticked the HECS box on her statement at work and paid extra tax each pay period to help her save money that she couldn't "touch and spend".

"I then get it all back at tax time and my bank account gets a healthy injection that I normally would have spent during the year," she said.

"This year I've overpaid around $12,000 in tax, which will go towards my house deposit."

Pamela M is in the same boat, saying she had a HECS debt and was used to having it taken out by her employer. Now that it's paid off, she hasn't updated her tax information with her employer.

"So the tax is taken out of my pay — I don't miss it as I never had it — and every tax time, I get the extra back and use this to pay for rego for my car etc. Works for me," she said.

The ATO said they heard people did this, so they "potentially receive a refund or not have to pay any additional tax at tax time".

But Ms Morgan said while she was not a financial adviser, she would tell people to keep in mind that the ATO doesn't pay interest on that return.

"So it could work if you don't trust yourself but you might be better off redirecting your money into paying off your mortgage or credit card debt," she said.

"I can see the upside for people who really don't trust themselves but it's probably not best in terms of missing out on interest."

And have you updated your details with your employer?

Employers have to withhold tax from your payments, which is based off whatever information you provide to them, including your withholding declaration.

So it's up to you to let your employer know if your situation has changed.

For Kate R, she learnt this the hard way when she forgot to follow up with her employer about deductions.

"The last few years I've ended up with a tax debt because I suddenly crossed the repayment threshold for my HECS/HELP debt," she said.

"Apparently I'd failed to tell payroll to take deductions out of my pay properly and by the time it was sorted out I'd already incurred a debt for the following financial year too."

According to the ATO, taxpayers can use tax tables on their website to work out how much should be withheld from payments made to them by their employers.

About 7.5 million employees can check their year-to-date pay, tax and super information online through their ATO Online account in mygov.

Although it might look a little different to how you've previously done your taxes.

This time you'll see an end-of-year income statement (instead of a payment summary from your employer).

You'll be able to check in to see these amounts throughout the year.