Uber and DoorDash Deductions: Mileage, Fees and Schedule C

Which rideshare and delivery driver costs can I deduct, and do I have to itemize?

Itemizing is not required to deduct these costs. A driver deducts business costs on Schedule C, against the profit from driving, whether the return uses the standard deduction or itemizes. The IRS counts driving for booked rides or deliveries as gig work, and says to deduct self-employed car expenses on Schedule C (gig work guidance; Tax Topic 510).

Schedule C subtracts costs from gross receipts. The profit then goes to Schedule 1 and Schedule SE, so each cost lowers both income tax and self-employment tax (Schedule C instructions). Only the business part of a mixed-use cost counts; the personal part does not (Publication 334).

The biggest deduction is usually miles: 72.5 cents per mile before July and 76 cents per mile from July for this page's tax year, with the prior year's rate in the table below. The profit left carries 15.3% self-employment tax.

What makes a case not simple

• A large balance after claiming miles. It is common because nothing is withheld, but it can also mean fees, income or miles were handled wrong. See the section on why you may still owe.
• Miles need a record. A deduction with no log, or with a guessed total, may not stand.
• The car method is picked in the first year the car is used for the work, and some choices cannot be undone.
• A driver who is a W-2 employee of the platform or a fleet is a different case. Most employees cannot deduct unreimbursed car costs (Tax Topic 510).
• A first 1099 year, several apps, or years never filed make it harder to match the return to the platforms' records.

Gather: each platform's tax form and year-end summary, trip or earnings reports, odometer readings for the start and end of the year, receipts for tolls, parking, fees and supplies, the phone bill, insurance and loan statements, and last year's return.

Do I report the 1099 amount or what the platform paid me?

When a form shows your pay before the platform's fees, report that gross amount and deduct the fees as a separate expense. The gross amount on a Form 1099-K is not reduced by fees, credits or refunds, and the IRS says taxpayers can deduct those items from the gross when they report income (Form 1099-K FAQs).

Source: Schedule C instructions and IRS tip guidance, which says self-employed workers' tips are generally part of gross receipts.

• Check what the form shows. If a form already reports pay after the platform took its fee, deducting the fee again counts it twice. Compare the form with the platform's own year-end and trip reports.
• A form does not decide what you report. The IRS says all gig income is reportable even when no 1099 arrives, and tips are income too (IRS tip guidance). If no form came, or the total looks wrong, see No tax form for platform income.
• Form 1099-NEC. If the box 1 totals on your 1099-NEC forms are more than the gross receipts on line 1, the instructions say to attach a statement explaining the difference (Schedule C instructions).
• Several apps. Report the income from every app. The instructions call for a separate Schedule C for each business, and whether rideshare and delivery are one business or two depends on the facts; settle that before filing if you drive for both.

Which miles count: with a passenger, to the pickup, waiting, driving home?

Business miles are miles driven for the work. Commuting is not deductible, even if you work during the trip (Publication 463). Schedule C Part IV, or Form 4562 Part V when the car is depreciated, asks for business, commuting and other miles as three separate totals (Schedule C; Schedule C instructions).

The IRS gives no ride-by-ride rule for a driver who starts the day at home or waits in a busy zone. Publication 463's rule for someone with no regular office is the nearest published guidance, so how it applies to a given driver is a judgment call.

Standard mileage rate or actual car expenses: which fits a driver, and can I switch?

A driver can generally use either one, subject to the rules below. Publication 463 and the Schedule C instructions both say the standard mileage rate is available for a car used for hire, such as a taxi, unless another limit bars it (Publication 463; Schedule C instructions).

Source: IRS standard mileage rates. The first two rows are the tax year of this page. For a return for the prior tax year, use the last row for all of that year's business miles.

• Standard rate: business miles times the rate, plus business tolls and parking, all on line 9. The rate takes the place of depreciation, lease payments, repairs, gas, oil, insurance and registration fees (Publication 463).
• Actual expenses: the business share of those costs, with depreciation on line 13 or lease payments on line 20a. Every receipt matters, and so does the business percentage from the log.
• The first-year rule: for a car you own, the standard rate must be chosen in the first year the car is available for the work, by that return's due date including extensions. A car that started on actual expenses generally cannot move to the standard rate later. One that started on the standard rate can use either method in later years, with straight-line depreciation if it switches to actual expenses. Section 179, bonus or other accelerated depreciation on the car also bars the standard rate (Tax Topic 510; Publication 463).
• Whose car: the standard rate requires that you own or lease the car (Tax Topic 510). If the car is a relative's or comes through a rental program, have the facts reviewed before claiming it.

For leases, fleets of five or more cars and the full comparison, see Standard mileage rate vs actual car expenses.

What can I deduct besides mileage?

Parking, tolls, platform fees, the business part of a phone, supplies and licenses are deductible, and several are deductible with either car method. What the standard rate already covers cannot be deducted again.

A driver who works from a home office may add that deduction; see Home office deduction. A truck or van bought for the work follows depreciation rules; see Writing off equipment in the first year.

What records prove the mileage and the other costs?

Keep a log of each business trip and receipts for every other cost. The law requires adequate records or sufficient evidence that backs up your own statement (Tax Topic 510), and the IRS says amounts you approximate or estimate cannot be deducted (Publication 463).

• Mileage: date, destination or purpose, and business miles for each trip, recorded at or near the time, plus total miles for the year, with business, commuting and other miles split. Odometer readings at the start and end of the year anchor the total.
• App records: Publication 463 says the nature of delivery work is circumstantial evidence of business purpose, and that delivery invoices show when the car was used (Publication 463). It does not mention an app's trip history; whether that history proves every mile is a question of fact.
• Other costs: receipts or statements for tolls, parking, fees, supplies and the phone bill. Schedule C also asks whether you have evidence and whether it is written (Schedule C).
• How long: generally 3 years from the date the return was filed; 6 years if the income you leave off is more than 25% of the gross income on the return; and indefinitely if you do not file a return. Other cases run longer (IRS: How long should I keep records?).

For what a log must show, see Mileage log requirements. If you kept no log or lost it, see Rebuilding a mileage log.

Why do I still owe so much after deducting my miles?

Often the cause is self-employment tax on your profit, on top of income tax, with nothing withheld during the year. Deducting miles lowers your profit, not your tax dollar for dollar.

• Self-employment tax. It is figured on 92.35% of net profit at 15.3% (Social Security and Medicare), and it applies once net earnings reach $400. The Social Security part stops at an annual cap on net earnings (Tax Topic 554). Half of the tax is deductible on Schedule 1.
• Income tax. The same profit is taxed again as income, after the standard or itemized deduction. The qualified business income deduction can take up to 20% of qualifying business income off the taxable amount, whether or not you itemize, within its limits (IRS). For this page's tax year, a driver who materially participates in the work and has at least $1,000 of qualifying business income gets at least $400 (26 U.S.C. 199A(i)).
• No withholding. Nothing is paid during the year, so the whole bill comes due at filing. The exception is backup withholding, which a payer must take when a driver's taxpayer ID is missing or wrong; the form shows it and the return claims it as tax withheld (Topic 307). Underpaying during the year can bring a penalty even when a refund is due (IRS estimated taxes). Withholding at a W-2 job is set from wages and does not cover this tax; the IRS says a worker with a job and gig income can raise paycheck withholding with a new Form W-4 instead of paying estimates (gig work guidance). See Quarterly estimated tax payments.

A large balance is not proof of a mistake. Before the return is filed, check:

A first 1099 year, numbers that do not match the platform's reports, or miles claimed without a log are cases where the return may need a professional's review: see individual tax help.

Does the no-tax-on-tips deduction apply to a driver?

It can. A new deduction for qualified tips applies to tax years 2025 through 2028. The final rules list taxi and rideshare drivers (including platform or app-based drivers) and goods delivery people (including app or platform-based delivery) among the tipped occupations (Federal Register, TD 10044).

• Qualified tips are voluntary tips paid in cash or an equivalent such as a card or app payment. A mandatory charge is not a tip (IRS tip guidance; Federal Register, TD 10044).
• They must be shown separately on a Form 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC or 1099-K furnished to you. Tips not on such a form, such as cash handed to you or tips from a platform that sent no form, do not qualify, and a self-employed driver cannot add them on Form 4137, which is for employees (Federal Register, TD 10044; IRS tip guidance). For tax year 2025 only, the IRS allowed cash tips included in the form's totals, with the amount figured from earnings statements or other records that back it up (Notice 2025-69). Keep records that support the tip amount.
• Limits: up to $25,000 per return, reduced when modified adjusted gross income is above $150,000 ($300,000 on a joint return). For the self-employed, the deduction cannot exceed net profit from the business that earned the tips, after Schedule C costs (Federal Register, TD 10044).
• Other conditions: a Social Security number valid for employment, and a joint return if married. A taxpayer with an ITIN instead cannot claim it (Federal Register, TD 10044). Tips from a specified service trade or business do not qualify, though IRS transition relief treats workers in listed occupations as outside that rule until final rules on the exclusion are issued (IRS tip guidance; Notice 2025-69).
• Where it goes: Schedule 1-A, not Schedule C (Schedule C instructions). Tips stay in Schedule C receipts and in self-employment tax, so the deduction lowers income tax only.

Example

These examples are illustrative; figures are in US dollars, use the 2026 mileage rates, and assume the standard rate is open to the car and every mile is logged.

A full-time rideshare driver

The platform's forms show US$40,000 in gross pay, of which US$3,000 is tips shown separately. Its year-end summary shows US$6,000 in service fees. The driver logs 20,000 business miles: 10,000 before July at 72.5 cents (US$7,250) and 10,000 after at 76 cents (US$7,600), so US$14,850. Tolls, parking and the business share of the phone add US$1,500.

• Net profit: 40,000 - 6,000 - 14,850 - 1,500 = US$17,650.
• Self-employment tax: 17,650 x 92.35% x 15.3% is about US$2,490, with none withheld.
• If every condition above is met, such as income below the phase-out, a qualified tips deduction of up to the US$3,000 of tips is possible, because that is below both the profit and the cap. It would lower income tax, not the US$2,490.

A delivery driver with a W-2 job

A worker earns US$12,000 delivering and logs 6,000 business miles, 3,000 in each half of the year: US$4,455. With no other costs, net profit is about US$7,545, and self-employment tax is about US$1,070. The job's withholding was set from wages, so this tax is not covered unless the worker raises withholding or pays estimates.

A first-year driver with only a guess

A new delivery driver kept only the app's trip history and guessed 15,000 miles. A guessed total is not a deduction by itself. The question becomes what can be rebuilt from dates in the trip history, odometer readings on service or inspection records and other evidence, and what that evidence supports. See Rebuilding a mileage log.

Different for you?

• You owe a large balance after claiming miles, or this is your first 1099 year: the return depends on gross income, fees, mileage and tips all being reported once. Gather the forms, reports and log, then get individual tax help to check the numbers and set quarterly payments.
• Several gig years were never filed, or you have no log for them: see Schedule C expenses for unfiled years and get individual tax help to rebuild what the evidence supports.
• You kept no mileage log or lost it: see Rebuilding a mileage log.
• No 1099 arrived, or the platform total looks wrong: see No tax form for platform income.
• You missed estimated payments or need a plan for the year: see Quarterly estimated tax payments.
• You bought a truck or van for the work: see Writing off equipment in the first year.
• You want to know which Schedule C costs draw IRS questions: see Schedule C expenses the IRS questions.
• You want one place to track miles, income and costs all year: see Bookkeeping app for Schedule C, or get bookkeeping help.
• You drive in Canada: see Rideshare and delivery driver expenses in Canada.