# IRS Standard Mileage Rates for 2019 See Increase and a Major Change



## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

*IRS Standard Mileage Rates for 2019 See Increase and a Major Change*

*https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/12/...for-2019-see-increase-and-a-major-change.html*

*https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-issues-standard-mileage-rates-for-2019*

IR-2018-251, December 14, 2018

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2019 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2019, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:


58 cents per mile driven for business use, up 3.5 cents from the rate for 2018,

20 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, up 2 cents from the rate for 2018, and

14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations.
The business mileage rate increased 3.5 cents for business travel driven and 2 cents for medical and certain moving expense from the rates for 2018. The charitable rate is set by statute and remains unchanged.

It is important to note that under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taxpayers cannot claim a miscellaneous itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses. Taxpayers also cannot claim a deduction for moving expenses, except members of the Armed Forces on active duty moving under orders to a permanent change of station. For more details see Notice-2019-02.

The standard mileage rate for business use is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The rate for medical and moving purposes is based on the variable costs.

Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates.

A taxpayer may not use the business standard mileage rate for a vehicle after using any depreciation method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) or after claiming a Section 179 deduction for that vehicle. In addition, the business standard mileage rate cannot be used for more than four vehicles used simultaneously. These and other limitations are described in section 4.05 of Rev. Proc. 2010-51.

Notice 2019-02, posted today on IRS.gov, contains the standard mileage rates, the amount a taxpayer must use in calculating reductions to basis for depreciation taken under the business standard mileage rate, and the maximum standard automobile cost that a taxpayer may use in computing the allowance under a fixed and variable rate plan.


----------



## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

So it appears that in 2019 most Uber X drivers will again have a zero tax liability. Uber's mission statement is;

*If you work for me, 
then you work for free*


----------



## MikeNY (May 6, 2016)

Has anyone opted for the depreciation over mileage 
Pros Cons


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

MikeNY said:


> Has anyone opted for the depreciation over mileage
> Pros Cons


PRO
By using the section 179 deduction and/or bonus depreciation along with the actual expense method you can write off close to or 100% of the cost of a vehicle. You'll have a large deduction and it could offset W2 if you're a sole proprietor(schedule c filer) for current year and/or be carried forward to future years. 
CON
You have to keep using your vehicle for at least 50% business for the next 5 or so years. If you don't, you'll have to "recapture" part of the deduction you took in year 1. You can't switch back to the standard mileage rate method.

Generally, when a lot of miles are involved, like ride share driving, the standard mileage method is preferred.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

I'll say it again, I was stunned to see so many drivers in the thread I started completely unaware that you can deduct every mile you drive when the app is open. This should bring your reported taxable income way down, in my case to zero. 

How can you guys not know this?


----------



## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Government shutdown affects IRS.
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2018/dec/irs-operations-government-shutdown-201820331.html


----------



## dryverjohn (Jun 3, 2018)

Unless you are driving black I don't know how anyone can have any taxable income on U/L. For simple math, you drive 125 miles in a day. You are the worlds best Uber driver and have a pax for 100 of those miles. You write off 125 x .545 per mile which translates to $68.13 in deductions. Let's say you earn $.65 per mile, (clt is $.607), you have income of $65, plus your hourly for those 100 miles. So before you receive your hourly, you are at a $3.13 LOSS. More common would be that a driver drives 200 miles ($109) deduction and income of $65 for 100 miles driven with passenger. Even when hourly is factored in, the driver will have no taxable income. For those of you that have Android, google keeps track of all your miles in the cloud. In the event of an audit, it would be very easy to print out with your mileage from purchase of car to audit date. The information is overwhelming and includes stops and duration of stops.


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

UberTaxPro said:


> PRO
> By using the section 179 deduction and/or bonus depreciation along with the actual expense method you can write off close to or 100% of the cost of a vehicle. You'll have a large deduction and it could offset W2 if you're a sole proprietor(schedule c filer) for current year and/or be carried forward to future years.
> CON
> You have to keep using your vehicle for at least 50% business for the next 5 or so years. If you don't, you'll have to "recapture" part of the deduction you took in year 1. You can't switch back to the standard mileage rate method.
> ...


Let's say for instance you keep your car for 250,000 miles

80% are deductible..

That's 200,000 miles.

At 58c a mile..

That's $116,000

Take $20,000 off the top for commercial taxi insurance.

$96,000

Take $30,000 off for a new vehicle purchase.

$66,000

Take $25,000 off for fuel at 12.5c a mile

That leaves you $41,000 for vehicle maintenance (scheduled or otherwise),
Replacing a blown transmission, fully redoing your seat upholstry... the list of things that COULD fall into this are endless.

At low levels your better off taking the per mile rate, as many of your "expenses" are coming at a cost of future maintenance. How does one quantify the increased maintenance cost of driving an extra 1000 miles when you have no expenses beyond gasoline?

You don't really... it's impossible.

By the time you hit a quarter of a million miles your far better off taking the per mile rate, It's so extreme actually that fleet owners are banned from using the per mile rate for this reason.

Low miles, high miles, the math doesn't work out for most cars.

The only time you would want to use actual expenses is if the car has a really really high sticker price.

Mercedes, Cadillac, Rolls Royce, Bently ect.

In the above situation it's possible that the standard rate won't cover depreciation+ expenses.


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> I'll say it again, I was stunned to see so many drivers in the thread I started completely unaware that you can deduct every mile you drive when the app is open. This should bring your reported taxable income way down, in my case to zero.
> 
> How can you guys not know this?


But that's not what is reflected on Uber/Lyft end of year mileage statement? I have to painstakingly record all those in between rider miles line by line


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

MikeNY said:


> Has anyone opted for the depreciation over mileage
> Pros Cons


I have kept records to do both. Standard Mileage deduction is a lot better option for me with a newer car. I would suggest everyone keep records to do both and calculate both methods each year.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

vtcomics said:


> But that's not what is reflected on Uber/Lyft end of year mileage statement? I have to painstakingly record all those in between rider miles line by line


It's my understanding that those Uber statements will only record the miles one you accept the ride, it does not reflect all the dead miles.


----------



## Zeppelin77 (Nov 10, 2015)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> It's my understanding that those Uber statements will only record the miles one you accept the ride, it does not reflect all the dead miles.


Based on my yearly summary for 2017 and all my monthly statements for 2018 the mileage total included all miles that I was _*ONLINE*_.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

Zeppelin77 said:


> Based on my yearly summary for 2017 and all my monthly statements for 2018 the mileage total included all miles that I was _*ONLINE*_.


Thanks that's interesting. I haven't been driving long enough to see my year end statement. I'll be interested to see if the miles match my records.


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

Zeppelin77 said:


> Based on my yearly summary for 2017 and all my monthly statements for 2018 the mileage total included all miles that I was _*ONLINE*_.


Hopefully that's the case. Although as a few have pointed out, in the case of an audit you'd surely want to have trips recorded individually as well as all dead miles in between trips recorded.



Darrell Green Fan said:


> Thanks that's interesting. I haven't been driving long enough to see my year end statement. I'll be interested to see if the miles match my records.


Same here! I'm almost finished with my spreadsheet; what a pain. Uber and Lyft both stopped showing exact address info so I have to zoom in with Google maps to figure out where exactly these trips occurred! Good grief.


----------



## Zeppelin77 (Nov 10, 2015)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> Thanks that's interesting. I haven't been driving long enough to see my year end statement. I'll be interested to see if the miles match my records.


This year they have been posting monthly summaries. The problem is they were usually a month behind.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Driving for both Uber and Lyft at the same time the summaries will most likely not match the total miles on my log sheet, there are always more. Example one day I drove 23 miles online with Uber and 16 miles online with Lyft. My actual online miles for the day was 32 miles. My written log is the most accurate. One day I may try an online trip logger but for now pen and paper transferred to an excel spreadsheet works best for me.


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

FLKeys said:


> Driving for both Uber and Lyft at the same time the summaries will most likely not match the total miles on my log sheet, there are always more. Example one day I drove 23 miles online with Uber and 16 miles online with Lyft. My actual online miles for the day was 32 miles. My written log is the most accurate. One day I may try an online trip logger but for now pen and paper transferred to an excel spreadsheet works best for me.


LOL yeah I've had a heck of a time linking the end of an Uber trip with the beginning of a subsequent Lyft trip.

I know my fellow Uber drivers here in my area don't keep a log; instead just relying solely on the mileage on Uber's end of year tax forms. Having been through an audit I know that won't fly; keep a log people. It's worth the peace of mind.


----------



## george_lol (Apr 4, 2017)

vtcomics said:


> But that's not what is reflected on Uber/Lyft end of year mileage statement? I have to painstakingly record all those in between rider miles line by line


Try app called Triplog - Car Mileage Counter & Gas Tracker. Automatically tracks all your mileage and provides reports, lets you reclassify segments from a default category, calculates gas mileage if you want to track that, maps all your drive, etc.
Android version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bizlog.triplog


----------



## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

There are a number of apps which will track mileage automatically. I use MileIQ, and I really like it. It tracks everything and then I spend 10 minutes a month classifying the drives as Business or Personal. At the end of the year, I sent my accountant a 250+ page .pdf file which showed every time my car moved during the year. He loved it.

The only drawback is the service costs $60 per year, but that's also deductible. It's free to try at the iTunes Store or Google Play.


----------



## Fredmiami (Mar 10, 2017)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> I'll say it again, I was stunned to see so many drivers in the thread I started completely unaware that you can deduct every mile you drive when the app is open. This should bring your reported taxable income way down, in my case to zero.
> 
> How can you guys not know this?


Probably using turbo tax instead of consulting with a competent accountant, you get what you pay for


----------



## george_lol (Apr 4, 2017)

JimKE said:


> I use MileIQ


Unless they've changed the app I find Triplog much easier to use. Current price is $4/month but I pay 3, I guess they've grandfathered me to old rates. I don't bother with starting and stopping for individual trips and get map of entire day or individual segments if I bother to differentiate them. The app will auto stop after a preset time of no motion. It also puts 2 minute markers on the maps. Auto start can be from any of multiple sources - Bluetooth, GPS, ODB, other. It can track expenses and tolls if you want to enter them. Reporting is via automatic weekly, monthly and YE emails or at any time desired and has options to customize them. I think The Rideshare Guy doesn't promote it probably because he has no income deal with them. They've also recently a 3rd party/accountant reporting option.


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

george_lol said:


> Unless they've changed the app I find Triplog much easier to use. Current price is $4/month but I pay 3, I guess they've grandfathered me to old rates. I don't bother with starting and stopping for individual trips and get map of entire day or individual segments if I bother to differentiate them. The app will auto stop after a preset time of no motion. It also puts 2 minute markers on the maps. Auto start can be from any of multiple sources - Bluetooth, GPS, ODB, other. It can track expenses and tolls if you want to enter them. Reporting is via automatic weekly, monthly and YE emails or at any time desired and has options to customize them. I think The Rideshare Guy doesn't promote it probably because he has no income deal with them. They've also recently a 3rd party/accountant reporting option.


I tried one of these apps; problem I find is that none of them can record each individual trip origination and destination addresses. Which therefore is useless to me. An IRS auditor will insist on this info.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

JimKE said:


> There are a number of apps which will track mileage automatically. I use MileIQ, and I really like it. It tracks everything and then I spend 10 minutes a month classifying the drives as Business or Personal. At the end of the year, I sent my accountant a 250+ page .pdf file which showed every time my car moved during the year. He loved it.
> 
> The only drawback is the service costs $60 per year, but that's also deductible. It's free to try at the iTunes Store or Google Play.


 I use Miles IQ for my "real job" business miles. But I can't even imaging doing it for ride share where you have to classify each drive. I have also found the app craps the bed every now and then and I don't want to bog my phone down by running a third app.

No to me a pen and paper is still the easiest.


----------



## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

No tax liability and flexibility are the only two benefits of rideshare driving.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

1.5xorbust said:


> No tax liability and flexibility are the only two benefits of rideshare driving.


Did you always feel this way? I'm new, 150 total rides since October, and I'm still having a blast doing this part time. Wondering when the honeymoon period ends.


----------



## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> Did you always feel this way? I'm new, 150 total rides since October, and I'm still having a blast doing this part time. Wondering when the honeymoon period ends.


Could come to a screeching halt at anytime with far fewer trip requests or a major repair.


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

1.5xorbust said:


> Could come to a screeching halt at anytime with far fewer trip requests or a major repair.


LOL was thinking the same thing...










That's about when the honeymoon ends if you ask me...

You've just spend 2 hours roadside waiting for a tow and your car is going to the shop to pay gosh darned knows how much to get it back on the road...


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

1.5xorbust said:


> Could come to a screeching halt at anytime with far fewer trip requests or a major repair.


I'm prepared for a major repair or even a car replacement. While I did notice downtown DC was not as busy as in the past I still did fine on Saturday when everyone said January is slow, especially with the government shutdown.


----------



## SubaruLegacy (Jan 17, 2018)

I use stride app. I turn it on at the beginning of business miles and off at end of shift, or if I stop taking rides and drive out of ym way for food or some reason. Have origination and destinations is pointless, you could theoretically get that data roughly from Uber/Lyft logs but that shows nothing for dead miles tracking anyways. So what your showing the IRS ok sometimes I was on rides on specific places but other time I was driving around in circles but I didn't record where they stopped and started. My earnings are low enough in Miami Itll cost the IRS way more to audit me then I'll end up owing.


----------



## TXUbering (May 9, 2018)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> Did you always feel this way? I'm new, 150 total rides since October, and I'm still having a blast doing this part time. Wondering when the honeymoon period ends.


When she stops shaving her legs and doesn't give you anymore blowjobs. Oh wait, you mean in respect to Rideshare driving.....


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

SubaruLegacy said:


> I use stride app. I turn it on at the beginning of business miles and off at end of shift, or if I stop taking rides and drive out of ym way for food or some reason. Have origination and destinations is pointless, you could theoretically get that data roughly from Uber/Lyft logs but that shows nothing for dead miles tracking anyways. So what your showing the IRS ok sometimes I was on rides on specific places but other time I was driving around in circles but I didn't record where they stopped and started. My earnings are low enough in Miami Itll cost the IRS way more to audit me then I'll end up owing.


I started using Stride but found 3 apps at once was too much drain on the phone and I had a day or 2 where it didn't record accurately.

I didn't see using the Uber and Lyft apps to track the miles as most of us have both running at the same time so many of the miles will be duplicates. No for me a pen and paper works fine.


----------



## SubaruLegacy (Jan 17, 2018)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> I started using Stride but found 3 apps at once was too much drain on the phone and I had a day or 2 where it didn't record accurately.
> 
> I didn't see using the Uber and Lyft apps to track the miles as most of us have both running at the same time so many of the miles will be duplicates. No for me a pen and paper works fine.


how do you have time in between rides especially on shared rides to write down miles and destinations?

I will say my phone uses battery at an insane rate with all I have it doing. 
I run Lyft driver app,+ stride, + waze + mobile hotspot to feed data to my kindle fire that I use for music and lyft pax app. It's fine because I leave phone plugged in.
but if i get out of car for a stop and don't shut it all down, I'll burn like 30% in half hour stop. but it works on my LG G5. The good thing about android, if the apps are working and programmed properly, is theoretically all that gps polling should be shared, i.e. if each app asks for gps every 10 seconds, it should check gps once every 10 seconds, instead of 3 times every 10 seconds.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

SubaruLegacy said:


> how do you have time in between rides especially on shared rides to write down miles and destinations?
> 
> I will say my phone uses battery at an insane rate with all I have it doing.
> I run Lyft driver app,+ stride, + waze + mobile hotspot to feed data to my kindle fire that I use for music and lyft pax app. It's fine because I leave phone plugged in.
> but if i get out of car for a stop and don't shut it all down, I'll burn like 30% in half hour stop. but it works on my LG G5. The good thing about android, if the apps are working and programmed properly, is theoretically all that gps polling should be shared, i.e. if each app asks for gps every 10 seconds, it should check gps once every 10 seconds, instead of 3 times every 10 seconds.


I keep a Steno Pad and pen on my dashboard every time I stop I take a second to record the information. I have had a few people ask me what I was doing and I simply tell them I have to update my mileage log on every stop per IRS regulations. Never had a single person complain about it. Once you get into a routine it really is not hard to do.


----------



## SubaruLegacy (Jan 17, 2018)

FLKeys said:


> I keep a Steno Pad and pen on my dashboard every time I stop I take a second to record the information. I have had a few people ask me what I was doing and I simply tell them I have to update my mileage log on every stop per IRS regulations. Never had a single person complain about it. Once you get into a routine it really is not hard to do.


To each their own. I feel like I'm often chasing a ping during the busy times right after finishing a trip. Wasting time writing stuff down, would cause me to get more cancellations. Also by writing down destinations some pax might be creeped out, thinking you are planning on coming back.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

3-5 seconds, most of the time I am done before the PAX ever closes the door getting in or out. I understand concerns of wasting time. I'm not willing to have the IRS negate my mileage because I did not want to take a few seconds to record it.

How are you going to get more cancellations? Accept your next ride and take a few seconds to record it right then or when you get stopped at a traffic light. If still no time do it while they are getting in the car.


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

FLKeys said:


> 3-5 seconds, most of the time I am done before the PAX ever closes the door getting in or out. I understand concerns of wasting time. I'm not willing to have the IRS negate my mileage because I did not want to take a few seconds to record it.
> 
> How are you going to get more cancellations? Accept your next ride and take a few seconds to record it right then or when you get stopped at a traffic light. If still no time do it while they are getting in the car.


I'm with you. I've been audited. Trust me; you want to do anything to avoid that nightmare.


----------



## SubaruLegacy (Jan 17, 2018)

So am I the crazy one trusting an app? How may of you keep paper records vs electronic by shift?


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

SubaruLegacy said:


> how do you have time in between rides especially on shared rides to write down miles and destinations?
> 
> I will say my phone uses battery at an insane rate with all I have it doing.
> I run Lyft driver app,+ stride, + waze + mobile hotspot to feed data to my kindle fire that I use for music and lyft pax app. It's fine because I leave phone plugged in.
> but if i get out of car for a stop and don't shut it all down, I'll burn like 30% in half hour stop. but it works on my LG G5. The good thing about android, if the apps are working and programmed properly, is theoretically all that gps polling should be shared, i.e. if each app asks for gps every 10 seconds, it should check gps once every 10 seconds, instead of 3 times every 10 seconds.


You don't need to log each ride. Just record the odometer reading at the start and end of the day, that's your total business mile deduction. Simple.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> You don't need to log each ride. Just record the odometer reading at the start and end of the day, that's your total business mile deduction. Simple.


Until I see a written determination from the IRS I would not trust that method.


----------



## george_lol (Apr 4, 2017)

vtcomics said:


> I tried one of these apps; problem I find is that none of them can record each individual trip origination and destination addresses. Which therefore is useless to me. An IRS auditor will insist on this info.


With Triplog use one of the widgets and just tap the stop button whenever you want to record an address. It will automatically restart when you start driving again. The log also includes your route on a map.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I just have a hard time trusting any electronic methods of tracking my mileage. If I did start using one I guess I would still keep a paper record to confirm it is correct. I have seen people report that their electronic record keeping is off by a certain percentage. One person said 6%. 6% of 20,000 miles is a big loss of deductible miles.


----------



## george_lol (Apr 4, 2017)

vtcomics said:


> I tried one of these apps; problem I find is that none of them can record each individual trip origination and destination addresses. Which therefore is useless to me. An IRS auditor will insist on this info.


Triplog can record the addresses simply by taping the stop button on the widget. No need to restart the app, it's automatic once you start driving again.



FLKeys said:


> I just have a hard time trusting any electronic methods of tracking my mileage. If I did start using one I guess I would still keep a paper record to confirm it is correct. I have seen people report that their electronic record keeping is off by a certain percentage. One person said 6%. 6% of 20,000 miles is a big loss of deductible miles.


Electronic methods don't take into consideration things like tire size and gear ratios that are individual to a car make and model. If they did they could be more accurate. Also, the GPS available for commercial use is not as accurate as say for the military. I use Triplog and it records more miles than my odometer so I adjust the odometer in the app every other day.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

george_lol said:


> With Triplog use one of the widgets and just tap the stop button whenever you want to record an address. It will automatically restart when you start driving again. The log also includes your route on a map.


This is a great tip, thanks. I did confirm with my tax person that you need to record each stop and I had no idea how that can be done. I mean we've got all kinds of things to keep track of when running both Uber and Lyft guess this is one more. Sucks.


----------



## Leo130 (Jan 19, 2019)

Guys I need help..first year doing Uber and I’m not sure how much I’m going to owe In taxes. Is it typically a lot? I just need to get a rough estimate


----------



## mmn (Oct 23, 2015)

Probably somewhere between 20-25% of your income with no deductions. However, most take at least the standard mileage deduction which for 2019 is $.58/mile (online miles). That's pretty significant. - $58 for every 100 miles.

My advice is to pony up and get some professional tax advice from one who knows the rideshare business. And btw that's a deductible expense!


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

What market your in has a bigger impact on how much you will owe than how much you make. Also XL classed vehicles will generate more in taxable profit that X-only vehicles. With Select being even higher.

Additionally... if your generating high percentage of surge fares you will owe more in taxes.

On top of this..

The more of your income that's based on incentives, the more you owe in taxes.


So if you have lots of base rate orlando uberX fares you won't owe anything, even if you made $20,000

But if you had $5,000 in Seattle with all surges you'll owe money.


----------



## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

dryverjohn said:


> Unless you are driving black I don't know how anyone can have any taxable income on U/L. For simple math, you drive 125 miles in a day. You are the worlds best Uber driver and have a pax for 100 of those miles. You write off 125 x .545 per mile which translates to $68.13 in deductions. Let's say you earn $.65 per mile, (clt is $.607), you have income of $65, plus your hourly for those 100 miles. So before you receive your hourly, you are at a $3.13 LOSS. More common would be that a driver drives 200 miles ($109) deduction and income of $65 for 100 miles driven with passenger. Even when hourly is factored in, the driver will have no taxable income. For those of you that have Android, google keeps track of all your miles in the cloud. In the event of an audit, it would be very easy to print out with your mileage from purchase of car to audit date. The information is overwhelming and includes stops and duration of stops.


You can only write off losses for 3 years in a Row !

Thus i deliver Pizza all year Last year only job.

Now i can return to Uber and Lose for 3 MORE YEARS !

When i had my own business
Changing title of co. D.B.A. slightly every 3 years did the trick.
So if you are operating under local business license you can continue to lose by changing name.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

I use Miles IQ for my sales job but it's tedious, it won't record each stop until you wait for like 5 minutes, so it won't record a stop light or gas station stop. I found Stride is far better for this. It is imperative that you document each ride for audit purposes. With Stride when you stop a ride in the Uber app you just go to the Stride app and stop, then start. 3 taps and you are covered, just a good habit to get into.


----------



## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> I use Miles IQ for my sales job but it's tedious, it won't record each stop until you wait for like 5 minutes, so it won't record a stop light or gas station stop. I found Stride is far better for this. It is imperative that you document each ride for audit purposes. With Stride when you stop a ride in the Uber app you just go to the Stride app and stop, then start. 3 taps and you are covered, just a good habit to get into.


Apps have us doing more " Tapping & Pecking " than Chickens !


----------



## george_lol (Apr 4, 2017)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> This is a great tip, thanks.


They send me a detail report every month of all the stops.
It's really the best program out there for what we do. I think it doesn't get promoted by The Rideshare Guy and others because they might not pay high enough referral fees if any. I also track my gas mileage with it by entering price/gallon, current mileage and gallons. It will keep photo copies of gas receipts in its cloud storage. At any time you can easily reclassify a trip from what you have chosen as a default. It also displays the value of your mileage deduction.
Also, your mileage can be more accurate if you choose to use an ODB-II bluetooth interface instead of GPS tracking.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

tohunt4me said:


> *You can only write off losses for 3 years in a Row !*
> 
> Thus i deliver Pizza all year Last year only job.
> 
> ...


No entirely true. The IRS has guidelines for reporting losses and many companies do it for many years in a row. If the standards are met you are fine.


----------



## islanddriver (Apr 6, 2018)

All you need to do is show any profits $1.00 will do.


----------



## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

I've been using Stride and just getting in the habit of stopping and starting it with each drop, 2 taps and I know I'm in compliance. I was surprised to see that even with all the dead miles to and from home as I live in a rural area I'm still showing a slight profit, not sure how you guys living closer to town are able to find enough miles to bring the profits to $0.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> I've been using Stride and just getting in the habit of stopping and starting it with each drop, 2 taps and I know I'm in compliance. I was surprised to see that even with all the dead miles to and from home as I live in a rural area I'm still showing a slight profit, not sure how you guys living closer to town are able to find enough miles to bring the profits to $0.


Depends on what the market rate is. In some markets it is so low that it would be impossible to show a profit. Also I'm sure many drivers lie about their mileage to make sure they don't show a profit.


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

FLKeys said:


> Depends on what the market rate is. In some markets it is so low that it would be impossible to show a profit. Also I'm sure many drivers lie about their mileage to make sure they don't show a profit.


Orlando rates require either surges or approximately 88% paid miles to unpaid miles, as in for every 100 miles driven 88 (or so) need to be paid in order to turn a profit. It's about 30-40%.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> Orlando rates require either surges or approximately 88% paid miles to unpaid miles, as in for every 100 miles driven 88 (or so) need to be paid in order to turn a profit. It's about 30-40%.


Is that realistically possible to have 88% paid miles? Seems like it would be pretty hard to do in any market.


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

FLKeys said:


> Is that realistically possible to have 88% paid miles? Seems like it would be pretty hard to do in any market.


You'd have to cancel any pickup more than 2/10 mile away!


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

george_lol said:


> Try app called Triplog - Car Mileage Counter & Gas Tracker. Automatically tracks all your mileage and provides reports, lets you reclassify segments from a default category, calculates gas mileage if you want to track that, maps all your drive, etc.
> Android version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bizlog.triplog


Thanks to your post I've switched to Trip Log. Been using it for about a month now and it works well. Sometimes I forget to end trip/start new trip; took me awhile to figure out how to edit the app to include those missed stops/starts. No more spending hours on an Excel sheet! Just download everything from Trip Log! Thanks!!


----------



## tmpnick16 (Apr 21, 2018)

dryverjohn said:


> Unless you are driving black I don't know how anyone can have any taxable income on U/L. For simple math, you drive 125 miles in a day. You are the worlds best Uber driver and have a pax for 100 of those miles. You write off 125 x .545 per mile which translates to $68.13 in deductions. Let's say you earn $.65 per mile, (clt is $.607), you have income of $65, plus your hourly for those 100 miles. So before you receive your hourly, you are at a $3.13 LOSS. More common would be that a driver drives 200 miles ($109) deduction and income of $65 for 100 miles driven with passenger. Even when hourly is factored in, the driver will have no taxable income. For those of you that have Android, google keeps track of all your miles in the cloud. In the event of an audit, it would be very easy to print out with your mileage from purchase of car to audit date. The information is overwhelming and includes stops and duration of stops.


Last year- $13k on 16k miles. There's still taxable income.


----------



## george_lol (Apr 4, 2017)

vtcomics said:


> Thanks to your post I've switched to Trip Log. Been using it for about a month now and it works well.


YW. When I started out 2 years ago I tested about 8 different apps and found Triplog runs circles around all the others. There's one bug to watch out for and that is if your device crashes for whatever reason don't try to recover it on the fly while you're driving (while it's logging). Stop driving. Stop Triplog logging and go into the settings and turn off auto start, exit the app then restart your device and reset Triplog to auto start. I've never reported this to them. Also, if you travel as a passenger it's going to record that mileage also. You can either turn off auto start or reclassify those miles.


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

george_lol said:


> YW. When I started out 2 years ago I tested about 8 different apps and found Triplog runs circles around all the others. There's one bug to watch out for and that is if your device crashes for whatever reason don't try to recover it on the fly while you're driving (while it's logging). Stop driving. Stop Triplog logging and go into the settings and turn off auto start, exit the app then restart your device and reset Triplog to auto start. I've never reported this to them. Also, if you travel as a passenger it's going to record that mileage also. You can either turn off auto start or reclassify those miles.


I agree trip log is the best! I only use it in manual mode, most of the other mileage apps don't even have manual mode


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

FLKeys said:


> Is that realistically possible to have 88% paid miles? Seems like it would be pretty hard to do in any market.


88% is impossible to achieve here. Like I said, normally (regardless if i'm in a taxi or uber/lfying) i'm at 25-35% paid


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

george_lol said:


> YW. When I started out 2 years ago I tested about 8 different apps and found Triplog runs circles around all the others. There's one bug to watch out for and that is if your device crashes for whatever reason don't try to recover it on the fly while you're driving (while it's logging). Stop driving. Stop Triplog logging and go into the settings and turn off auto start, exit the app then restart your device and reset Triplog to auto start. I've never reported this to them. Also, if you travel as a passenger it's going to record that mileage also. You can either turn off auto start or reclassify those miles.


Which plan do you have? My free trial is up in a few days and it's time to select a plan. All I care/need is date, start address/stop address, miles and the ability to save it all onto an Excel sheet later. Does the cheapo $2 plan accommodate those tasks? Thanks!


----------



## Homie G (Oct 19, 2017)

FLKeys said:


> I keep a Steno Pad and pen on my dashboard every time I stop I take a second to record the information. I have had a few people ask me what I was doing and I simply tell them I have to update my mileage log on every stop per IRS regulations. Never had a single person complain about it. Once you get into a routine it really is not hard to do.


You are the smartest one here. Pen and paper on every trip for your mileage log. Not a mileage tracking app.

You will be asked when doing your taxes if you have WRITTEN proof of your mileage records.

Like the saying goes: If you don't write it down, it never happened.


----------



## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

Homie G said:


> You are the smartest one here. Pen and paper on every trip for your mileage log. Not a mileage tracking app.
> 
> You will be asked when doing your taxes if you have WRITTEN proof of your mileage records.
> 
> Like the saying goes: If you don't write it down, it never happened.


Lol it does not have to be handwritten. They will take an Excel spreadsheet no problem. The same Excel spreadsheet generated from my Trip Log app. But you are correct they will want meticulous trip to trip line item entries.


----------



## Coyotex (Feb 10, 2019)

So, if I understand this correctly, every stop, every pickup has to be logged? If I write down starting mileage and ending milage for the day and number of trips, that's not good enough? I'm new so I'm trying to get a handle on this.


----------



## BCS DRIVER (Oct 25, 2018)

Coyotex said:


> So, if I understand this correctly, every stop, every pickup has to be logged? If I write down starting mileage and ending milage for the day and number of trips, that's not good enough? I'm new so I'm trying to get a handle on this.


Nope. It requires all details for each leg of the trip. Using Trip Log I start logging when I log into U/L. After getting a request and arriving at the pickup I stop logging and restart logging. After arriving at the destination I stop/start again. I do not do a stop/start at the time of receiving a request (Period 2). I'm almost always driving at that time and it's too distracting to do this at the same time I've accepted the ride and paying attention to driving and navigating. Any other time I do a stop/start I'm sitting still at the pickup or drop off.


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

BCS DRIVER said:


> Nope. It requires all details for each leg of the trip. Using Trip Log I start logging when I log into U/L. After getting a request and arriving at the pickup I stop logging and restart logging. After arriving at the destination I stop/start again. I do not do a stop/start at the time of receiving a request (Period 2). I'm almost always driving at that time and it's too distracting to do this at the same time I've accepted the ride and paying attention to driving and navigating. Any other time I do a stop/start I'm sitting still at the pickup or drop off.


We need a demo video of this!


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

vtcomics said:


> Lol it does not have to be handwritten. They will take an Excel spreadsheet no problem. The same Excel spreadsheet generated from my Trip Log app. But you are correct they will want meticulous trip to trip line item entries.


I transfer my written log into Excel. If I was doing multiple trips per hour every hour I would consider looking int an electronic version like Trip Log, however to be honest I have no problems keeping a written log with the volume I am doing in my market. New Years Eve where it was trip after trip non stop for 4 hours got a little stressful until I just said to my self, relax the PAX still need to get in and out and that is ample time to make the written notes I need.


----------

