# Please let me know if I have it all covered.



## Honu (Nov 6, 2016)

I paid my estimated taxes using QBSE recommendations. I am using Turbo Tax Home & Business to file. I put my business under Taxi & Limo service. The list of things I understand I can deduct I have listed below, please correct me if I am wrong, and help answer questions for ones that have questions.

1. Standard Mileage - Total mileage tracked and marked as business by QBSE tracking system,
2. Cell phone payment, 50% of monthly bill total.
3. Auto loan interest, full or just a portion?
4. Uber Booking Fees & Airport Fees.
5. Supplies, I.E. bottled water, snacks, cell phone mount, headlight rags to keep car clean etc.

Also, since I already paid $1k+ in estimated taxes, if I owe anything, and it is less than the $1k+ I paid in estimated taxes, I don't owe anything right? That was already paid in my estimated taxes?

Also, I cannot complete this until I receive my 1099 from Uber correct? I need that form to put in my 1099-MISC I believe. 

Thanks!


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Honu said:


> I paid my estimated taxes using QBSE recommendations. I am using Turbo Tax Home & Business to file. I put my business under Taxi & Limo service. The list of things I understand I can deduct I have listed below, please correct me if I am wrong, and help answer questions for ones that have questions.
> 
> 1. Standard Mileage - Total mileage tracked and marked as business by QBSE tracking system,
> 2. Cell phone payment, 50% of monthly bill total.
> ...


1. yes, total business mileage is deductible
2. Cell phone % of business use is deductible. If 50% is your business % then yes. 
3 Business portion of auto loan interest is deductible. To calculate this take your total miles for the year personal and business and calculate the % for each. The business % is deductible. 
4. Yes, don't forget the commissions also! 
5. yes

"Also, since I already paid $1k+ in estimated taxes, if I owe anything, and it is less than the $1k+ I paid in estimated taxes, I don't owe anything right? That was already paid in my estimated taxes?" Yes, and you'd also be due a refund.

"Also, I cannot complete this until I receive my 1099 from Uber correct? I need that form to put in my 1099-MISC I believe." That's a good idea, you should have your 1099 soon. Also, IRS doesn't start accepting e filed returns until 1/23.


----------



## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

Wouldn't that be 1099-_*K*_?


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

1099K and possibly 1099-misc for incentive income


----------



## Geno71 (Dec 23, 2016)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that you can EITHER claim "1. Standard Mileage" OR "2, 3, 4, 5" or whatever other Actual Expenses there are. You don't claim actual expenses like supplies, cell phone, car payment AND standard mileage. Standard Mileage is designed to assume all expenses are included in it.


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Geno71 said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that you can EITHER claim "1. Standard Mileage" OR "2, 3, 4, 5" or whatever other Actual Expenses there are. You don't claim actual expenses like supplies, cell phone, car payment AND standard mileage. Standard Mileage is designed to assume all expenses are included in it.


You're right that you can't claim both! You can't claim standard mileage and actual expenses that are related to your vehicle. Other business expenses like cell phone are deductible in addition to the standard mileage deduction. Supplies would be deductible as long as the supplies weren't tires for your car. 
Car washes are a bit of a gray area. Generally, the IRS considers car washes as maintenance therefore falling under the standard mileage deduction. However, it can be argued that driving for Uber you need to wash your car for customer service reasons in addition to maintenance. For example if you wash your car once a week driving for Uber but only washed your car once a month before driving for Uber, perhaps 3 of the 4 washes would be deductible for customer service reasons just like buying water or candy for them. Of course you would have to have excellent records if you're gonna deduct in the gray area.


----------



## FITS (Apr 24, 2016)

Honu said:


> 4. Uber Booking Fees & Airport Fees.


Shouldn't the booking fee be included on your 1099-K on the 1a block? Last week my 1099-K was available online and I was able to download a copy before uber remove it. It show that I made a total of $6,650.68 Than I download my yearly tax summary and it break it down by gross fares (uber fee included) $5,714.08, split fare $8.50, miscellaneous fare $150, booking fee $778.1 and it all total $6,650.68


----------



## Geno71 (Dec 23, 2016)

FITS

You should only pay taxes on any money that they actually deposited into your bank account. I wonder is they're hoping drivers will not realize that and pay taxes on the money that they keep. You're responsible for your income tax, you pay that on *your *income, they're responsible for theirs. So any money you didn't get, are not part of your income.


----------



## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

FITS said:


> Shouldn't the booking fee be included on your 1099-K on the 1a block? Last week my 1099-K was available online and I was able to download a copy before uber remove it. It show that I made a total of $6,650.68 Than I download my yearly tax summary and it break it down by gross fares (uber fee included) $5,714.08, split fare $8.50, miscellaneous fare $150, booking fee $778.1 and it all total $6,650.68


$5,714 x .20 = $1,142 . . . why is the booking fee so low?


----------



## Geno71 (Dec 23, 2016)

Maybe a sign up bonus?


----------



## FITS (Apr 24, 2016)

circle1 said:


> $5,714 x .20 = $1,142 . . . why is the booking fee so low?


Might wanna double check your math. Booking fee are per trip. $5,714.08 is gross fares including uber 28% fee. Booking fee in Minneapolis is $1.55 per trip.


----------



## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

FITS said:


> Might wanna double check your math. Booking fee are per trip. $5,714.08 is gross fares including uber 28% fee. Booking fee in Minneapolis is $1.55 per trip.


Wait, the $5,714 figure is _after_ the fee has been taken, or before? If it's before than some Uber driver's are charged anywhere from a 20% to 30% fee (I'm interested in what this driver's _*percentage*_ fee is). 20% of 5714 is 1142 . . . I don't care what the nominal sums are, I care what the percentage is. Does this make sense?


----------



## FITS (Apr 24, 2016)

circle1 said:


> Wait, the $5,714 figure is _after_ the fee has been taken, or before? If it's before than some Uber driver's are charged anywhere from a 20% to 30% fee (I'm interested in what this driver's _*percentage*_ fee is). 20% of 5714 is 1142 . . . I don't care what the nominal sums are, I care what the percentage is. Does this make sense?


Which part of "including uber 28% fee" do you not understand? Uber 20% - 28% fee is different from the booking fee. This are two different fee. There is "Uber fee" which is around 20% - 28%. Than there is another fee called "booking fee". This booking fee isn't included in ur fare. They use to, but uber took that off and automatically charge the pax.


----------



## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

FITS said:


> Which part of "including uber 28% fee" do you not understand? Uber 20% - 28% fee is different from the booking fee. This are two different fee. There is "Uber fee" which is around 20% - 28%. Than there is another fee called "booking fee". This booking fee isn't included in ur fare. They use to, but uber took that off and automatically charge the pax.


Ok, you said; "Shouldn't the booking fee be included on your 1099-K on the 1a block?" Well, if the booking fee is charged directly to the pax and "not included in ur fare," then why would you be looking for or needing it in ur 1099? Why would it even show up on the 1099??

Then you said; "It show that I made a total of $6,650.68 Than I download my yearly tax summary and it break it down by gross fares (uber fee included) $5,714.08, split fare $8.50, miscellaneous fare $150, booking fee $778.1 and it all total $6,650.68" Where's Uber's 20-28% commission fee?

So I guess my confusion is, were Uber's commission fee taken out of the gross or not?


----------



## FITS (Apr 24, 2016)

circle1 said:


> Ok, you said; "Shouldn't the booking fee be included on your 1099-K on the 1a block?" Well, if the booking fee is charged directly to the pax and "not included in ur fare," then why would you be looking for or needing it in ur 1099? Why would it even show up on the 1099??
> 
> Then you said; "It show that I made a total of $6,650.68 Than I download my yearly tax summary and it break it down by gross fares (uber fee included) $5,714.08, split fare $8.50, miscellaneous fare $150, booking fee $778.1 and it all total $6,650.68" Where's Uber's 20-28% commission fee?
> 
> So I guess my confusion is, were Uber's commission fee taken out of the gross or not?


Uber added the commission into my 1099-K. They didn't take it out of the gross fare. That is why I said they remove my 1099-K. $5,714.08 is including the uber fee. The reason why ur confused is because u don't know that there a booking fee and that fee is different from the uber 20%-28% fee.


----------



## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

FITS said:


> Uber added the commission into my 1099-K. They didn't take it out of the gross fare. That is why I said they remove my 1099-K. $5,714.08 is including the uber fee. The reason why ur confused is because u don't know that there a booking fee and that fee is different from the uber 20%-28% fee.


This what CPAs are for . . . smh.


----------



## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

I do hate how they removed the "booking fee"/safe rider fee from the daily and weekly payouts. I hate it because I can't really accurately track those fees throughout the year since I noticed before they went away the fee was always different. Nothing drastic but it was +/- .o8 cents I guess depending on the municipality that I picked up in (Austin area has about 8-10 different suburbs). So when it disappeared sometime in the middle of the year I began to track it on my books by an average of what they had been before. Ended up about over $8. Not to much of an adjustment as this offset my taxable income by this amount which amounts to like $2 more in taxes than I planned. With me estimating now from the start of the year, I hope it's not too much bigger of an amount at the end of this year.


----------



## Honu (Nov 6, 2016)

UberTaxPro said:


> 1. yes, total business mileage is deductible
> 2. Cell phone % of business use is deductible. If 50% is your business % then yes.
> 3 Business portion of auto loan interest is deductible. To calculate this take your total miles for the year personal and business and calculate the % for each. The business % is deductible.
> 4. Yes, don't forget the commissions also!
> ...


Well, I have no real way to calculate how much of my phone is used for work or personal, all I know is I never used to go through my data ever until Uber, and I rarely use my phone for anything other than basic features, so I am just saying 50% and that should not be disputed right?


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Honu said:


> Well, I have no real way to calculate how much of my phone is used for work or personal, all I know is I never used to go through my data ever until Uber, and I rarely use my phone for anything other than basic features, so I am just saying 50% and that should not be disputed right?


Sometimes it's difficult or impossible to get exact numbers to calculate business vs personal. If you're driving 30 to 40 hrs a week it would be hard to argue against a 50 50 split. Make your best reasonable estimate and use it consistently and you'll be fine.


----------



## Allen Coronel (Jan 7, 2016)

Since I never really account the dead miles I think the best bet to calculate those is 1/3 of the total mileage that you drove. Example 1000 miles reported by Uber you can claim extra 250 dead miles...right???


----------



## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Allen Coronel said:


> Since I never really account the dead miles I think the best bet to calculate those is 1/3 of the total mileage that you drove. Example 1000 miles reported by Uber you can claim extra 250 dead miles...right???


In your example that would 1/4 of the mileage, not 1/3. Either way, in case of an audit, the examining agent could disallow the deduction for mileage without a contemporaneous log to substantiate the business use of the vehicle.
Having said that, your numbers are probably pretty conservative, based on what others post- more like one for one or slightly higher. It may depend on your market and how strategically you manage dead miles. Bottom line is track odometer readings for the start and end of each shift and keep a log.
FYI, I'm not a tax professional.


----------



## Dback2004 (Nov 7, 2015)

For deducting mileage you have to have a log and it has to exist before your auditor requests it. For 2016, I had:
On-Trip Miles 1904.1
Dead Miles 2225.7

All depends on your market and your driving habits. I also count my trips back to home as dead miles since my home doubles as my office and base of business so I don't exclude as commuting mileage. I also then deduct additional miles for driving to service appointments, etc.


----------



## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

Dback2004 said:


> All depends on your market and your driving habits. I also count my trips back to home as dead miles since my home doubles as my office and base of business so I don't exclude as commuting mileage. I also then deduct additional miles for driving to service appointments, etc.


Wonder? Could one still deduct miles home if you were still online and actively looking for a ride? Many times I leave the app in as I head home and accept anything I get whilst still making my home. Even pulled into the driveway once and got a ping. Point is times I don't get anything, I pull into the driveway, go offline and then jot the miles down. And really for folks that don't even do that and still track those miles home, how does one prove to the IRS in the event of an audit that they were or not offline during those "commuting miles" home?


----------



## Dback2004 (Nov 7, 2015)

El Gato said:


> Wonder? Could one still deduct miles home if you were still online and actively looking for a ride? Many times I leave the app in as I head home and accept anything I get whilst still making my home. Even pulled into the driveway once and got a ping. Point is times I don't get anything, I pull into the driveway, go offline and then jot the miles down. And really for folks that don't even do that and still track those miles home, how does one prove to the IRS in the event of an audit that they were or not offline during those "commuting miles" home?


I would say you could deduct those (disclaimer - not a tax expert, lawyer, etc). If you claim the home office deduction that helps back you up. From everything I've ever read, the IRS gives credence to _consistent_ well-documented logs.


----------



## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

Right. I was more proposing this for those of us that do not claim the home office expense (I'd like to but using IRS rules I can't pass the exclusionary rule for home office).


----------



## Allen Coronel (Jan 7, 2016)

Is Uber service fee is the same as commission???


----------



## Honu (Nov 6, 2016)

A question on deductions, do I need to itemize each expense or can I lump them together in groups like "supplies total 2016". I have them individually inputted into QB Self Employed, if I got audited I have a record with receipts, I am not sure if I need to put them in individually on Turbo Tax though.


----------



## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Honu said:


> A question on deductions, do I need to itemize each expense or can I lump them together in groups like "supplies total 2016". I have them individually inputted into QB Self Employed, if I got audited I have a record with receipts, I am not sure if I need to put them in individually on Turbo Tax though.


IIRC, TT gives you examples of what each category means. But as long as the supplies are pertaining to running the business I think it is okay to lump them together if there is no separate category for them. I would keep those receipts, along with a list showing how you came up with the total, with a copy of the return and other supporting documents.
Disclosure: I'm not a tax professional.


----------

