# Spent the afternoon estimating taxes. Is this correct?



## ShinyAndChrome (Aug 18, 2017)

Notes

started driving for uber this week
using a 6 hour session last night making about $100 in 150 miles (half were with passengers) as a baseline
I calculate a real cost of miles personally at $.22. Insurance/licensing costs are not applicable (already have them), so I arrived at this value by using fuel costs, repairs+tires, and projected depreciation of the vehicle
My calculations use last year's tax rates and last year's [slightly higher] $.54 mileage deduction
I'm in NY state and taxes here include federal + state
I opened up turbotax from last year's return, pretended like I had to amend it, and added in Uber earnings in Box 7.
My family income is fairly high, so non-deducted self-employed income taxes out very high. As such I've found that my real operating costs vs the mileage deduction are such that I make more money if I drive more miles even if I don't have passengers in the car. I quite literally bank money driving around instead of parking.

Questions:
1) Does this look similar to what other people are seeing; they essentially pay no taxes on uber income due to deductions, so the only real cost is their actual vehicle costs?
2) I know that the 1099 may include everything a passenger pays (e.g. what Uber gets for entire fare), but this expenses out dollar for dollar, so that I'm only actually taxed on what Uber stuck in my account, right?

Thanks!!!!!!!


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## Dontmakemepullauonyou (Oct 13, 2015)

If you don't end up paying $0 taxes on uber driving you're doing it wrong.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Questions:
1) Does this look similar to what other people are seeing; they essentially pay no taxes on uber income due to deductions, so the only real cost is their actual vehicle costs? *Yes, it does look similar to other Uber drivers that I've seen. Be careful with those actual vehicle costs, they may be more than you anticipate over a longer time period. Also remember, "time is money"*
2) I know that the 1099 may include everything a passenger pays (e.g. what Uber gets for entire fare), but this expenses out dollar for dollar, so that I'm only actually taxed on what Uber stuck in my account, right? *No, you're only taxed on your NET INCOME which is the money deposited in your account minus your business deductions (if there is any $ after deductions). You will need to ACCOUNT for your Uber GROSS income which is the amount on your 1099 when tax time comes around. *


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## ShinyAndChrome (Aug 18, 2017)

UberTaxPro said:


> 2) I know that the 1099 may include everything a passenger pays (e.g. what Uber gets for entire fare), but this expenses out dollar for dollar, so that I'm only actually taxed on what Uber stuck in my account, right? *No, you're only taxed on your NET INCOME which is the money deposited in your account minus your business deductions (if there is any $ after deductions). You will need to ACCOUNT for your Uber GROSS income which is the amount on your 1099 when tax time comes around.*


Thanks!

So in dumb terms I can understand:

A bunch of passengers pay $1000 to Uber for fares
I end up getting about $600 "earnings" from Uber from that $1000; Uber puts $600 into my account.

I then get enough mileage to basically hit $600 in deductions (and assume no other deductions related to the business). My tax is thus $0, further to dontmakemepullauonyou's comment.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

ShinyAndChrome said:


> Thanks!
> 
> So in dumb terms I can understand:
> 
> ...


You got it! Just remember that you're still responsible for keeping track of everything. Just because you may not owe any tax you're still required to account for everything. Think MILEAGE LOG!!! Become familiar with a Schedule C - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf . Set up your record keeping to correspond with the Schedule C and it'll be easy at tax time.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

UberTaxPro said:


> You got it! Just remember that you're still responsible for keeping track of everything. Just because you may not owe any tax you're still required to account for everything. Think MILEAGE LOG!!! Become familiar with a Schedule C - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf . Set up your record keeping to correspond with the Schedule C and it'll be easy at tax time.


You always put things in easy to understand language. Kudos for all the help you provide here!


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