# Need a SMART mathematician: Weekly paycheck, how much do I REALLY keep?



## NCJacobT (Oct 2, 2016)

Been driving about a month or so now, doing this part-time as I go to school. I see a lot of talk about taxes, gas, and depreciation.

I drive about 2500 miles a month now if I work about 20 hrs/wk (according to MileIQ), half of it on electric (free), so that alone saves around $30/week.

This last week you can see I averaged about $24/hr pay. I drove about 700 miles, and should be able to deduct about $250 from the business miles. 

For one shortcut, if half of those miles were electric, then that means about 350 were gas, which is about a full tank for me, which costs about $28. So that gives us a new number of ($546 - $28)/23 hrs = $22.5/hr. This tells me gas alone cuts into my costs by about $1/hr. 

Please someone continue that train of thought and lower that number by factoring in tire wear and tear over 500 (business) miles, brakes, partial value for an oil change and other non-electric maintenance for 250 miles (since electric doesn't affect oil, timing belt, and other motor maintenance).

And of course taxes, thank you so much!!


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## Fuber1 (Sep 11, 2016)

Your making less than minimum wage risking your life without insurance etc supporting a company that is illegal dishonest and fraudulent with f rating with bbb and consumer affairs you don't have to be that smart to figure out you need a different real job


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## jester121 (Sep 6, 2016)

NCJacobT said:


> Been driving about a month or so now, doing this part-time as I go to school. I see a lot of talk about taxes, gas, and depreciation.
> 
> I drive about 2500 miles a month now if I work about 20 hrs/wk (according to MileIQ), half of it on electric (free), so that alone saves around $30/week.
> 
> ...


Sorry -- you don't get to "pre-estimate" your partial value of future oil changes and tire replacements.

You either track every mile you drive for the year and classify it as as personal or business, and then use that percentage X actual vehicle costs,

OR

Use the standard $0.54/mile of business use. Not both, no estimating or projecting or other nonsense.

And you should probably budget spending some time with a tax professional, because YOU are responsible for getting things right, and relying on strangers to offer tax advice over the internet is just plain dumb.


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## Billys Bones (Oct 2, 2016)

Just keep track of all your miles. With the .54 irs deduction, standard deductions, etc., it should even out so that you get to keep all that you earn.


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## NCJacobT (Oct 2, 2016)

I think you guys misunderstood my question. I don't seek to deduct actual costs. I'm deducting the 54 cents per mile. so I still pay for a car wash every month, which might cost $8/mo or $2 a week. So I can chop off $2 off of my original $546, making it $516 after gas and car wash, if I get an oil change every 6 months and it costs $60, that's $10/month, or $2.50/week, putting me at $513 I netted last week. Understand what I mean? I definitely make more than minimum wage, so I don't understand the point of some of these negative comments. 

I just know it's not $24/hr after I adjust for car washes, oil changes, tires, etc whenever that needs to be done.


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## jester121 (Sep 6, 2016)

NCJacobT said:


> I think you guys misunderstood my question. I don't seek to deduct actual costs. I'm deducting the 54 cents per mile. so I still pay for a car wash every month, which might cost $8/mo or $2 a week. So I can chop off $2 off of my original $546, making it $516 after gas and car wash, if I get an oil change every 6 months and it costs $60, that's $10/month, or $2.50/week, putting me at $513 I netted last week. Understand what I mean? I definitely make more than minimum wage, so I don't understand the point of some of these negative comments.
> 
> I just know it's not $24/hr after I adjust for car washes, oil changes, tires, etc whenever that needs to be done.


So what is your actual question? Are you trying to figure out what's tax deductible, or are you trying to figure out your hourly wage? Or something else completely?


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## NCJacobT (Oct 2, 2016)

My hourly wage, sorry I should have made that more clear. That's what I'm trying to figure out. 
My gross was about $24/hr, but when I start to adjust for gas (- $1/hr), car wash (- $0.10/hr), oil change (- $0.15/hr in my example) etc. it now isn't $24/hr but closer to $22.5/hr. I don't know how often tires wear down and what they cost, nor do I know how to factor in the tax deduction, like I made $546 but can deduct about $250, so my taxable income would be about $200, would that leave me owing $20? (10%) is it more than 10%? in this example, if it is $20 then my income now is at $493 (/23 hrs =...) or $21.4/hr. 

I hope I'm not being too confusing, I think I'm solving most of it myself, but I don't know how to factor in tire cost, car transmission cost, what uber drivers pay in taxes, etc.


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## shiftydrake (Dec 12, 2015)

Actually you are way over thinking this.....1 don't try to break down hourly it's hard to do in transportation for pay.....take your payout.......put so much away for future maintenance then put away 12-15% up for taxes......when you file if you don't owe then move saved money "for taxes"...move that into "future repairs"....that way you are covered regardless........and don't calculate car pymnts and insurance you will have that anyway.....but on insurance if you Have ride share insurance then set that aside.....then there ya go....costs of operating under Uber


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

NCJacobT said:


> My hourly wage, sorry I should have made that more clear. That's what I'm trying to figure out.
> My gross was about $24/hr, but when I start to adjust for gas (- $1/hr), car wash (- $0.10/hr), oil change (- $0.15/hr in my example) etc. it now isn't $24/hr but closer to $22.5/hr. I don't know how often tires wear down and what they cost, nor do I know how to factor in the tax deduction, like I made $546 but can deduct about $250, so my taxable income would be about $200, would that leave me owing $20? (10%) is it more than 10%? in this example, if it is $20 then my income now is at $493 (/23 hrs =...) or $21.4/hr.
> 
> I hope I'm not being too confusing, I think I'm solving most of it myself, but I don't know how to factor in tire cost, car transmission cost, what uber drivers pay in taxes, etc.


Wouldn't it be nice if the IRS calculated the approximate rate to reimburse drivers for using their own vehicle for company business?

56c per mile IRS deduction for business use

The federal government reimburses it's employees at a rate of
51c per mile for a motorcycle
54c per mile in your private car if there is no federal fleet vehicle available
19c per mile if there IS a federally owned vehicle available and you choose not to use it.
$1.17 a mile for private airplane

So my guess is that the actual cost of operating a vehicle is somewhere in the mid 50c range?

something that you have to keep in mind is that you won't be able to calculate your actual cost per mile of operating until you sell/scrap/ strip the car for parts/get it towed at get an insurance payout.

depreciation is really only something that can be ESTIMATED until you sell the car.

You bought your car for.. 30,000 will it be worth $10,000 when you sell it or 6,000? That's a $4,000 difference...

Will your transmission last 100,000 to probably 300,000 miles.. My heart says it will probably be lower end of the scale in a taxi/uber vehicle than a car that isn't used for this purpose. It could run 1,500-3,000...
That put's the cost per mile of transmission replacement over the life of the car (calling at at 300,000 miles) at anywhere from zero to upwards of $3,000 over roughly 5 years. That's a huge variation.

I'd expect a car bought brand new to get 200,000-300,000 miles out of it... It will really just depend on how well it holds up and how much work you need to put into it one day when your sitting in the Toyota garage with a car that's grossly out of warranty.
The KBB on a 2012 Camry Hybrid with 300,000 miles is 3,300-7000 Depending on condition, using it for uber i would guess it would fall closer to the bottom than the top. $3,700 in sell price difference could mean a 2.5% difference in your total operating costs over 5 years.

So let's say that your first transmission makes it 200,000 miles you put in it, after 5 years you hit 300,000 and decide to get a new car.

Your car is worth $7,000 and the transmission is fine...

Or you could be trying to get rid of a car that has a value of 3,700 that needs $2000 in serious engine work (Let's say transmission other minor work) to get back on the road. If your car has 300,000 miles on it you might decide that you are better off cutting your loses and letting it go for as low as $1,000 just to get $1000 off it.

After just 5 years your car could between $22,000- 29,000 in value for the same exact car depending not on then number of miles but what the condition is. That's 5,800 a year or $483 a month to $4,400 a year, $360 a month.

That's $120 difference with just factoring in the sell value of the car at the end of it's life.

That's over $120 a month difference depending SOLELY on what the car's value is after 300,000 miles.

These little differences will make a huge difference when you sell the car, and can't be estimated or calculated until you sell the car.

This is why the 54c a mile IRS thing is in place, because you never really know until your getting rid of it how much it's costing you.


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## gofry (Oct 20, 2015)

If you can't figure out your hourly wages then Uber is not a good job for you. Seriously.


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

If you have an "electric" car, you will have a battery replacement / depreciation cost higher than gasoline.

Your actual "cost" per mile is still around .30 for every mile driven.


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## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

There is no better time than NOW to learn the things you'll need to know next April 15!

I suggest you take your figures - income, expenses, and miles - from a month's worth of driving. Now, multiply everything by 12 and prepare a 'mock' 1040 tax return, with particular attention to Schedule C.

What does the form show as your taxable income? Well, you better set something aside; you're expected to make a payment come December 15. You'll need to pay income tax, both halves of Social Security, and the medicare tax.

Those deductions - especially the mileage one - are the lifeblood of our biz. For example, one day I earned $80 and drove 400 miles. Using the mileage deduction, I will owe the Feds practically nothing. Indeed, the mileage says I'm actually losing money.

The mileage deduction is used INSTEAD of tracking actual car expenses. If your expenses are higher, you can use them instead. Lower and you make out.

Come tax time, it's quite possible that you'll get quite a refund. Either the Uber "loss" will reduce the taxes they keep from your regular job, or you'll qualify for the 'earned income tax credit."

Visit the IRS site. Have them send you the forms and instruction books. Then study them.


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## MikesUber (Oct 23, 2015)

Fuber1 said:


> f rating with bbb and consumer affairs


 Who else visits bbb.org? People with negative ratings, very few people are going to take time out of their day and say, "Hey, I'm going to visiting the BBB and leave a stellar review of this company!" (with no reward to myself!)

Of course all of the 59 negative reviews are drivers and riders complaining about one thing or another.


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