# Tax issues - advice needed



## Walshie101 (Dec 8, 2017)

Hi All. I haven't driven with Uber for a couple of years and have not done my tax returns either. Though I did do my Bass returns.

I have a record of my Uber income but don't have a record of my expenses ie - running costs, petrol, kilometres travelled etc.

It there a sort of "rule of thumb" that I could use with the ATO. Something like "on average for every $50 earned as an Uber driver it would cost me $10 in fuel plus $5 wear and tear on the car".

Has anyone had a similar problem?

Thanks


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## Squirming Like A Toad (Apr 7, 2016)

Being you say petrol and kilometres and most of us say gasoline and miles we can't offer much help. In the US it's a flat deduction per mile, and unless you are driving a new Escalade it is way more than it actually costs to drive it.


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

Walshie101 said:


> Hi All. I haven't driven with Uber for a couple of years and have not done my tax returns either. Though I did do my Bass returns.
> 
> I have a record of my Uber income but don't have a record of my expenses ie - running costs, petrol, kilometres travelled etc.
> 
> ...


Lots of people have this issue in the states. They have absolutly no idea how many miles they actually drove, and they have zero documentation of what it cost them.

There's no rule of thumb either, My earnings vary from $1.00 earned per mile driven to about $1.50. It's a really wide variation from day to day.

There's too much random variation with the uber to have any general rule of thumb.

Without receipts you don't really have any hope of accurately reproducing what you need.

What happens here in the states is they make something up and pray they don't get caught.

I'm not telling you to do that. You have 2 choices... neither is a great idea, one costs money and the other is a legal risk. I don't know what the legal risk is where you live either. This is entirely your fault due to a lack of documentation. At this point you have a bad choice to make, neither choice is the answer your looking for.

_*If you want to stay out of trouble 100% you need to have no expenses you can't document (IE NO EXPENSES).*_

_*If you don't want to pay extra in taxes, you have to make something up and risk getting caught.

*_
There is no middle ground.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Walshie101 said:


> Hi All. I haven't driven with Uber for a couple of years and have not done my tax returns either. Though I did do my Bass returns.
> 
> I have a record of my Uber income but don't have a record of my expenses ie - running costs, petrol, kilometres travelled etc.
> 
> ...


Your situation is similar to many of my clients here in the states! I suggest you talk with a tax pro in Northcote.


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## fwdmarch (Aug 28, 2017)

if you have a flat deduction/mile(km) you should be able to get the miles driven with a passenger from uber. You would be safe using that as documentation. But you probably have close to an equal # of deadhead miles. You can risk using a multiplier of you pax mile but you risk failing an audit.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

fwdmarch said:


> if you have a flat deduction/mile(km) you should be able to get the miles driven with a passenger from uber. You would be safe using that as documentation. But you probably have close to an equal # of deadhead miles. You can risk using a multiplier of you pax mile but you risk failing an audit.


In the US a mileage log is required to deduct mileage. Documentation from Uber is not acceptable. Yes, maybe an auditor would accept the Uber mileage record but the auditor would be under no obligation by law to do so.


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## Skinny1 (Sep 24, 2015)

Uber tax pro,

I’ve decided last minute against utilizing sec 179 and purchasing a vehicle this year.

Instead I decided to shield the $$ from taxes I will open a solo 401k and just dump as much as I can afford/ and benefits me from the taxes.

I realize SE tax does not change but hey that’s ok.

If I had a deposit on a vehicle ( that was to be a business expense) and it was lost Can I write it off with documentation?

Don’t ask but I had to forfeit some $$ because they held a car up etc....i knew the deal and arrangement , in the end I am better off.
Thanks


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Skinny1 said:


> Uber tax pro,
> 
> I've decided last minute against utilizing sec 179 and purchasing a vehicle this year.
> 
> ...


My first thought, having done no research, since the vehicle was never placed into service, therefore no business use, no deduction.

I could be wrong.


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## Part Time AZ (Aug 27, 2017)

Make life simple....Run Stride App. It will show all the miles you drive and calculate the standard deductions for you. I take a picture of my odometer at the beginning of my day and at the end just in case Stride fails you.

Compare your deposits with Stride and you will see how little Net you make....less than $4/hour in the Phoenix market on Uber X/Base Lyft($.09/min & $.95/mile).

I think you will find you work 8 hours and only have a paying passenger on board 4 hours or less....at least in PHX. If yours is higher than 50%, please post.

In the words of the late Paul Harvey....Good Day


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