# Do I need to bother with deductions



## CoffeeMan311 (Oct 25, 2017)

I work a full time job and only uber on the weekend. Do I need to bother with tracking mileage and gas? Most likely doing standard deduction.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Yes, you still need to track your mileage to use as a deductible expense from your earnings as a TNC driver. You will report your earnings and expenses from your business on Schedule C to determine if you made a profit or loss. It doesn't matter whether you use the standard deduction or itemize your deductions on your tax return, you will carry over the bottom line from your TNC business to Schedule A.
You may be confused by the term "standard," because the IRS uses it in describing the deductible costs for business mileage, known as the Standard Mileage Rate (SMR.) You can choose to track the actual vehicle operating expenses, like gas and repairs, but for most TNC drivers the SMR is better, not to mention easier to figure with less record keeping. You will need a contemporaneous mileage log, which basically means noting the starting and ending odometer readings for each shift you drive.

Disclosure: I am not a tax professional, but UberTaxPro is, and you can read through the threads in this taxes forum to find his answers to just about anything you need to know.


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## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

CoffeeMan311 said:


> I work a full time job and only uber on the weekend. Do I need to bother with tracking mileage and gas? Most likely doing standard deduction.


Yes you do. You need to deduct operation expenses from your new found business. Trust me, you don't want to pay the 15.3% SE tax from the total that Uber inserts on your 1099.


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## Tysmith95 (Jan 30, 2017)

CoffeeMan311 said:


> I work a full time job and only uber on the weekend. Do I need to bother with tracking mileage and gas? Most likely doing standard deduction.


Don't bother tracking gas expenses. Just track the mileage expense.


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