# How do you log delivery miles in a way that proves it to the IRS?



## VanKalDriver (Sep 13, 2021)

Especially as I've started making more money in Kalamazoo doing Uber Eats, I need a way to log my miles in a way that proves it to the IRS. I need to do it soon if I want a majority of my miles deducted on my coming tax bill in April. Simply writing them down from my odometer or adding up the mileage shown in the deliveries (a pain in and of itself while doing deliveries) wouldn't do because there's no proof.

So what are some ways to prove delivery mileage to the IRS? It would have to be mileage and not gas unless my car's MPG indicator could somehow communicate with the Uber app, which I don't see any way it can. Still, I might, for my own purposes, compare gas costs with mileage deductions and see if I can drive good enough on gas to get a greater mileage deduction than the gas I'm burning, probably just for the deliveries themselves.

I may do my taxes early next year so that I get a heads-up about how much I'm going to owe in April, and save accordingly. It's a 1099, right? And I have to manually pay Medicare and Social Security, right? U.S. tax law seems pretty crappy to me about this, taxing those from the first dollar while billionaires use complex international tax schemes to pay a LOWER PERCENTAGE rate than poor people in Medicare and Social Security! Those might be gone in 20 years.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

A written log is sufficient proof.


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

Like Disgusted Driver said, you can purchase a logbook or create a spreadsheet that includes: date, mileage at the start and end of your driving for hire. You don’t need to record each delivery as all miles driven with the app on are deductible.


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

A truckers log book. 

And from the time I accept from home until I get back.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

so there are several points to make....as stated above a simple daily log is sufficient. the other issue is this a full time or part time job for you? this is an important question to your overall gross income for all streams. or you can just do an estimate on mileage,I mean honestly the chances of you getting audited are slim to zero,they arent going to waste manpower on a shortage of 100 dollars in taxes paid,they neither have the man power nor do they have the incentive to collect whatever it is they would if they disallowed certain deductions. just dont get greedy and you will be ok..if you do get audited just go back and fill in the blanks as proof. Try not to overthink this,whichever way you decide to go it's a relatively simple matter. you dont have to worry about complex income or deduction issues. essentially every thing associated with the vehicle is a write off to one extent or another. I would also highly recommend a professional CPA ,yes you will pay more but a professional can counsel you and catch "red flag" deductions to avoid any issues. is that a 100% gurantee? no,but it will cover just about anything that comes up. I have had the same CPA for 35 years I have never been audited.


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## kingcorey321 (May 20, 2018)

I am far from a tax pro. What i do when i file. If its food delivery i will put in i have drove half mile for every dollar earned . This is actually a bit under . You know you have dead miles as well . 
Why i put in half instead of the one to one ration . When i file it says there is less odds of being audited . 
So yes one dollar earned i drove half a mile . So 20000k dollars earned i drove 10k miles . This will be 5600 tax wright off . You earned 10k so meaning if it was a 1040 you would pay 2300 in tax. 
You will be getting a 1099k if you made over 20k with uber. 
So i know you do not understand what i am saying, YOU WILL NOT OW A PENNY IN TAXES ! 
Every dollar claim half a mile on your taxes . File electronically online there will be places to put these numbers in.


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

kingcorey321 said:


> I am far from a tax pro. What i do when i file. If its food delivery i will put in i have drove half mile for every dollar earned . This is actually a bit under . You know you have dead miles as well .
> Why i put in half instead of the one to one ration . When i file it says there is less odds of being audited .
> So yes one dollar earned i drove half a mile . So 20000k dollars earned i drove 10k miles . This will be 5600 tax wright off . You earned 10k so meaning if it was a 1040 you would pay 2300 in tax.
> You will be getting a 1099k if you made over 20k with uber.
> ...


Why not log your actual miles, instead of this? The IRS requires an accurate log, not guess work based on earnings. Not getting audited using your method isn’t proof of their acceptance of it. A daily record of total miles driven is accurate and will be accepted as proof much easier and probably produce a larger deduction.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

BestInDaWest said:


> mean honestly the chances of you getting audited are slim to zero,they arent going to waste manpower on a shortage of 100 dollars


Sorry but that’s terrible advice. Several right on this forum have been audited so there’s that. Mileage log audits are done by mail so it costs them next to nothing. Mileage is the single biggest deduction for many drivers and if your mileage deduction gets disallowed it will cost you a lot more than $100 for most.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

Seamus said:


> Sorry but that’s terrible advice. Several right on this forum have been audited so there’s that. Mileage log audits are done by mail so it costs them next to nothing. Mileage is the single biggest deduction for many drivers and if your mileage deduction gets disallowed it will cost you a lot more than $100 for most.


hey whatever floats your boat my way has been working my whole life....to those who want to do it another way be my guest


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

BestInDaWest said:


> hey whatever floats your boat my way has been working my whole life....to those who want to do it another way be my guest


Have you ever been audited and presented your “dollars earned divided by two method” as how you tracked your mileage?


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

kingcorey321 said:


> I am far from a tax pro. What i do when i file. If its food delivery i will put in i have drove half mile for every dollar earned . This is actually a bit under . You know you have dead miles as well .
> Why i put in half instead of the one to one ration . When i file it says there is less odds of being audited .
> So yes one dollar earned i drove half a mile . So 20000k dollars earned i drove 10k miles . This will be 5600 tax wright off . You earned 10k so meaning if it was a 1040 you would pay 2300 in tax.
> You will be getting a 1099k if you made over 20k with uber.
> ...


Mind boggling. Once again I have to tell you Corey you should be banned from giving advice in the Tax forum!  The OP asks how to document mileage and you give him a lame method of taking a wild-ass-guess. 🤪 Perfect, yeah……that’ll work!


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## Nythain (Jul 15, 2021)

Quick question for those of you who have been mileage audited. Does the IRS know my exact time spent online in the app? Uber consistently knocks me offline if I refuse two rides in a row, which wasn't an issue before. But as events open back up, I'm now getting bombarded with requests to venues I don't want to deal with. The only way to get a different ping is to stay offline and drive far enough away from the venue, which can sometimes be 5-10 miles. While driving, I rarely think to manipulate my phone enough to switch to mileage tracker and stop the trip. So technically I'd be claiming miles I wasn't "online" but was still working (repositioning to a new hotspot) and don't know if the IRS would know i was offline or if they're even likely to care over such few miles?


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

Personally I think one could get away with nearly 3 driven miles to 1 paid mile, and the IRS wouldn't Audit unless other or more flags were present.But that's not how they want it. That's why I mentioned the Truckers log book. 

My totals end up being about 2 driven miles to 1.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

forqalso said:


> Have you ever been audited and presented your “dollars earned divided by two method” as how you tracked your mileage?


as i stated earlier i have never been audited.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

Nythain said:


> Quick question for those of you who have been mileage audited. Does the IRS know my exact time spent online in the app? Uber consistently knocks me offline if I refuse two rides in a row, which wasn't an issue before. But as events open back up, I'm now getting bombarded with requests to venues I don't want to deal with. The only way to get a different ping is to stay offline and drive far enough away from the venue, which can sometimes be 5-10 miles. While driving, I rarely think to manipulate my phone enough to switch to mileage tracker and stop the trip. So technically I'd be claiming miles I wasn't "online" but was still working (repositioning to a new hotspot) and don't know if the IRS would know i was offline or if they're even likely to care over such few miles?


your splitting hairs here....those dead miles to get into position are business miles...dont over think this just present fair numbers ,the likelyhood of an audit are very small. i am gonna take a guess here and say that if people were audited for this issue they were either greedy or did their own taxes. pay a professional....thats all i can say.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Nythain said:


> Quick question for those of you who have been mileage audited. Does the IRS know my exact time spent online in the app? Uber consistently knocks me offline if I refuse two rides in a row, which wasn't an issue before. But as events open back up, I'm now getting bombarded with requests to venues I don't want to deal with. The only way to get a different ping is to stay offline and drive far enough away from the venue, which can sometimes be 5-10 miles. While driving, I rarely think to manipulate my phone enough to switch to mileage tracker and stop the trip. So technically I'd be claiming miles I wasn't "online" but was still working (repositioning to a new hotspot) and don't know if the IRS would know i was offline or if they're even likely to care over such few miles?


In my experience they just looked to see if I had a mileage log with acceptable documentation. I don’t believe for a second they would ever look at individual rides or try to correlate it to anything. It’s more form than substance. Keep a mileage log with odometer readings, you’ll be fine.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Nythain said:


> Quick question for those of you who have been mileage audited. Does the IRS know my exact time spent online in the app? Uber consistently knocks me offline if I refuse two rides in a row, which wasn't an issue before. But as events open back up, I'm now getting bombarded with requests to venues I don't want to deal with. The only way to get a different ping is to stay offline and drive far enough away from the venue, which can sometimes be 5-10 miles. While driving, I rarely think to manipulate my phone enough to switch to mileage tracker and stop the trip. So technically I'd be claiming miles I wasn't "online" but was still working (repositioning to a new hotspot) and don't know if the IRS would know i was offline or if they're even likely to care over such few miles?


You are overthinking this. EVERY mile you drive that supports your rideshare endeavors is deductible. Even going to the gas station to fill up. I have it easy, I have a minivan I only use for rideshare/delivery so it's a begin and end of year odometer reading.


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

BestInDaWest said:


> as i stated earlier i have never been audited.


Then you don’t know if it’s good advice or not and you can’t really say that it’s worked for you when really what worked for you was not getting audited. Try telling the IRS agent you track your miles by dividing your income in half. His next question will be, “how many years have you done this?” Then, he’ll expand the audit to cover those years.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

forqalso said:


> Then you don’t know if it’s good advice or not and you can’t really say that it’s worked for you when really what worked for you was not getting audited. Try telling the IRS agent you track your miles by dividing your income in half. His next question will be, “how many years have you done this?” Then, he’ll expand the audit to cover those years.


my next question is what business is it of yours how i conduct my affairs..mind your own business ..know it all


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

BestInDaWest said:


> m
> 
> my next question is what business is it of yours how i conduct my affairs..mind your own business ..know it all


Maybe you shouldn’t post your business on a public forum and mislead people who are asking for advice with your ignorance.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Nythain said:


> Quick question for those of you who have been mileage audited. Does the IRS know my exact time spent online in the app? Uber consistently knocks me offline if I refuse two rides in a row, which wasn't an issue before. But as events open back up, I'm now getting bombarded with requests to venues I don't want to deal with. The only way to get a different ping is to stay offline and drive far enough away from the venue, which can sometimes be 5-10 miles. While driving, I rarely think to manipulate my phone enough to switch to mileage tracker and stop the trip. So technically I'd be claiming miles I wasn't "online" but was still working (repositioning to a new hotspot) and don't know if the IRS would know i was offline or if they're even likely to care over such few miles?


 _Does the IRS know my exact time spent online in the app? _No, only if you give it to them


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## ubercrashdummy (Mar 5, 2015)

Google maps timeline with ubering miles coded as in a taxi. Doesn't capture 100% of the mileage like recording odometer readings in a log but it's close enough for me.


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