# Am I doing this right?



## Swallace913 (Oct 6, 2015)

Hey all, 
Being halfway through the year, I want to make sure I'm doing this right so that if I'm not, I can play catch up before the end of the year!
When I leave my house, I turn on the app and note the odometer. I typically run errands around town with my app on and will take any ping that comes my way (not a problem, right?). When I start to head home, I leave the app ON and note the mileage when I turn it off (I will still accept rides on my way home - hence leaving the app on). 
So here's my question. Let's say I drove 100 miles (for ease of numbers). I can deduct 50 cents per mile (again, for ease of numbers). So I can deduct $50 in earnings. If I make $65, then I only have to pay taxes on the $15 after deduction, yes?
Now: what if at the end of the year, my deduction is greater than my earnings? I won't pay taxes on my earnings, right? Would that mileage deduction bleed over into my other income reported on a W-2?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

You're on the right track in keeping a contemporaneous mileage record. You will report your independent contractor income from driving on Schedule C, Profit and Loss from Self Employment. With some other deductions for cell phone bills, etc, you may have very little profit. It won't have any effect on your regular job income and withholding. The net profit, if any, will migrate over to add to your income from that job to determine your tax liability. If you make enough net profit to hit the $400 threshold for self employment taxes, you will have to pay in about 15.3% in FICA for Social Security and Medicare.
Disclosure: I'm not a tax pro; my advice is worth what you are paying for it. There are some tax pros on here, so let's see what they have to say.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

"So here's my question. Let's say I drove 100 miles (for ease of numbers). I can deduct 50 cents per mile (again, for ease of numbers). So I can deduct $50 in earnings. If I make $65, then I only have to pay taxes on the $15 after deduction, yes?" _YES_
"what if at the end of the year, my deduction is greater than my earnings? I won't pay taxes on my earnings, right? Would that mileage deduction bleed over into my other income reported on a W-2?" _You won't pay taxes on your earnings because you had none. The loss will reduce your total income including your W-2 job which will lower your overall tax bill. _


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## Subjugator (Jun 22, 2016)

Mileage can bleed over but its not for w2. It's for overall taxable income I had it done on my joint return for another bussiness since it was written as a loss in terms of expenses. I ended up paying less in total taxes owed.


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