# Idea for those who did not track dead miles



## Qowpel (Mar 31, 2016)

Let us say you did not track dead miles such as myself. there is a way around it but it is incredibly tedious. Basically if you just finished a trip, you would just calculate the miles it takes to go from the end of your most previous trip to the pick up of your next trip. I know this seems.obvious but I read some people are nervous about this. It will take Forever to calculate, but it must be done. So far my ratio of true miles to dead miles is about 40 percent to 60 percent.... dead miles suck.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Yes, dead miles suck but they would suck worse if you couldn't deduct them!


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## JustDave (Aug 17, 2016)

The only thing we cannot deduct is whenever we go offline, to our home. Right?


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## Mattio41 (Sep 19, 2016)

JustDave said:


> The only thing we cannot deduct is whenever we go offline, to our home. Right?


if you still had one available. Why wouldn't you use a destination filter to your house. If you happen to catch a ride, great. Slightly offsets the dead head. Otherwise, App is on all the way home.


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## JustDave (Aug 17, 2016)

Mattio41 said:


> if you still had one available. Why wouldn't you use a destination filter to your house. If you happen to catch a ride, great. Slightly offsets the dead head. Otherwise, App is on all the way home.


I do this. Even when there's surge. Just to be sure I go towards home on that ride


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## zordac (Aug 2, 2016)

You don't have to be online to claim the miles. You just have to be in the car for Uber related business and have the app open.


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## Tommy Vercetti (Aug 28, 2016)

A little off topic, but I haven't tracked any miles, I was hoping to just used the calculated miles from trips using the partner app. Is this sufficient enough?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Tommy Vercetti said:


> A little off topic, but I haven't tracked any miles, I was hoping to just used the calculated miles from trips using the partner app. Is this sufficient enough?


But then you leave on the table all the "dead" miles without pax, right? As I understand it, the partner app only calculates trips with a paying pax onboard.

Disclosure: I'm not a tax pro, nor do I do rideshare, so I'm just kibitzing here.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Tommy Vercetti said:


> A little off topic, but I haven't tracked any miles, I was hoping to just used the calculated miles from trips using the partner app. Is this sufficient enough?


You can use anything you want to calculate your "business miles" but if you're ever challenged any miles deducted and not accounted for in a mileage log will be negated. The records that Uber keeps for your trips are nice to have and could be used to support your mileage log, or perhaps to help recreate a missing log, but they aren't going to get you anywhere with the IRS unless you also have a mileage log. The law states you have to keep a mileage log for every business mile you deduct. The law doesn't state anything about the Uber app. or any other method of keeping track of your business miles other than the mileage log. By law the IRS has to follow the tax code, common sense doesn't count!


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## zordac (Aug 2, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> But then you leave on the table all the "dead" miles without pax, right? As I understand it, the partner app only calculates trips with a paying pax onboard.


Correct. He is leaving the majority of his mileage on the table by doing that.


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## Puntagor (Sep 2, 2016)

How about car only uses for uber?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Puntagor said:


> How about car only uses for uber?


I'm not a tax professional, but this is my understanding-

If a car is strictly used for business you would still need the contemporaneous mileage log to account for the business use.


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## Puntagor (Sep 2, 2016)

picking up riders is part of bussenes right?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Puntagor said:


> picking up riders is part of bussenes right?


Of course. Maybe I misunderstood your question.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Older Chauffeur said:


> I'm not a tax professional, but this is my understanding-
> 
> If a car is strictly used for business you would still need the contemporaneous mileage log to account for the business use.


Yes! unless of course it's race car your talking about


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Even if you claim actual expenses you need to keep a mileage log to determine what % is personal vs business. Also, mileage logs need to be kept for three years.


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## mmorris5820 (Sep 19, 2016)

Tommy Vercetti said:


> A little off topic, but I haven't tracked any miles, I was hoping to just used the calculated miles from trips using the partner app. Is this sufficient enough?


No, it's not enough. You need to claim all of your dead miles as well to ensure you can deduct most if not all of your income earned for driving.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

mmorris5820 said:


> No, it's not enough. You need to claim all of your dead miles as well to ensure you can deduct most if not all of your income earned for driving.


You need a mileage log even to deduct the "calculated miles". The calculated miles do not replace a mileage log for tax purposes.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

I do 100 dead miles a day just traveling to and from my work area $54.00 deduction before I even start


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

You must have a log with miles driven with start end odo readings either way you decide to deduct your expenses. If you get audited... and you have a detailed log... your golden. If you don't have a log... you cant deduct ANYTHING even if you have receipts.

The bare minimum you need to survive an audit for every work session is

Date/time start
Start Odo
Date/time stop
Stop odo

They don't expect you to have every single fare listed but you need to have odo readings by the session.

2016 night of 11/8- 11/9
Start 11/8/16 21:00
Start odo 58,757
Stop 11/9/16 09:00
Stop odo 58,958

(on new years eve split it at midnight so your not straddling years)

This is literally the ONLY thing you cannot be without come tax time, for someone working full time not having this could adjust your income 10s or thousands.

Going to work, you can write it off as long as you can go online from home.]
coming home, as long as you are logged in you can write it off... because you are still theoretically working.

As far as writing off the drive home after logging off?
Technically.... I mean really getting technical here... and looking at the intent of how this is worded, and the nature of the documentation itself.
_*
If you are self-employed and claim a dedicated home office -- a space set aside exclusively for business -- all the driving you do from your home to clients' offices is deductible.*_

So the intent is for someone who has a small office to deduct all their miles they drive if they work from home?

By following the intention of the law one could claim that the intention is to deduct it.

And since all they have is your logs to go on (because uber will never have an accurate to give them, and if you do multi platforms? no one can ever calculate it but you) i would just deduct it anyway.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> on new years eve split it at midnight so your not straddling years)


I don't think you have to worry about splitting expenses on New Years Eve and straddling years. I hope UberTaxPro will weigh in, but here is my layman's opinion-

Uber should issue a 1099 form that matches your deposits accrued over the year. If that number includes splitting of rides completed on Dec 31 by midnight, I would be very surprised. Just like with your paycheck from a regular job, the company will close the payroll for tax purposes, and issue the W-2, with the last check dated in December.

I believe you include income earned and the expenses involved, like mileage, in the tax year payment is received. So you close your books on 2016 with the last date on which Uber deposits money in 2016.

For example, I think Uber will issue the last payments for this tax year on December 29 for work completed by 3:59 am on Monday, December 26, 2016. So if you use the odometer reading for the last driving you do Christmas weekend, it will match the income earned. Start your log for 2017 with your first drive on Monday after 4:00 am.


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## RobertDavid (Dec 11, 2016)

Hey Mears, do you hand write your log or use some sort of app?


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## Qowpel (Mar 31, 2016)

Cool guys. I actually found a way to have tracked all my miles and am okay now. New qyestion though. I started april this year and still have not filed taxes. If they, for some reason come after me, which I do not want and I still wanna pay my taxes, consideeing I have made little to no profit, what penalties could I get? Like 100 bucks for not filing my 1099 or something? Did I miss tax filing a second time since april? Can I still file?

But most importantly, what kind of fines could I face? I live in nj


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## RobertDavid (Dec 11, 2016)

Qowpel, still not time yet to file taxes for 2016. I'm new to driving as well but do know that we should get a 1099 probably sometime in Jan. 2017. Our 1099 will include all earnings up til midnight on Dec. 31st this year.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

The IRS won't even accept any electronic returns until Jan 23, 2017 for 2016 tax year.


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## Driving DC Metro (Dec 2, 2016)

Qowpel said:


> Let us say you did not track dead miles such as myself. there is a way around it but it is incredibly tedious. Basically if you just finished a trip, you would just calculate the miles it takes to go from the end of your most previous trip to the pick up of your next trip. I know this seems.obvious but I read some people are nervous about this. It will take Forever to calculate, but it must be done. So far my ratio of true miles to dead miles is about 40 percent to 60 percent.... dead miles suck.


This would not work, you are missing the "contemporaneous" part of the process by doing this. You would not pass muster in an audit IMHO.


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

RobertDavid said:


> Hey Mears, do you hand write your log or use some sort of app?


Umm... Ubering income is hand written logs,
When I had an independently owned taxi i used hand written logs,
Right now i use actual expenses for a leased company taxi.


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

Older Chauffeur said:


> I don't think you have to worry about splitting expenses on New Years Eve and straddling years. I hope UberTaxPro will weigh in, but here is my layman's opinion-
> 
> Uber should issue a 1099 form that matches your deposits accrued over the year. If that number includes splitting of rides completed on Dec 31 by midnight, I would be very surprised. Just like with your paycheck from a regular job, the company will close the payroll for tax purposes, and issue the W-2, with the last check dated in December.
> 
> ...


You say that but the cab company i worked for pays out daily and "technically" pays out all credit card transactions to us at the time of processing by crediting us at the time of processing... the 1099 they send out splits the year at 11:59 12/31 and 12:00 AM 1/1.
(we then have the right to be paid out at any time that we don't owe the company money)

Square does it's own thing, it's all fubar and it end up in the year it ends up LOL.

Our cars however get billed to us in one of two ways... weekly contracts require payment in advance to sign out the car, that bill gets paid before midnight so it applies to the previous year, the remainder of the week is on the next tax year with no expenses yet for that year.

However if we do by the shift, we just have to start the shift not owing any money and the money isn't collecting until we turn the car in so that applies to the following year on NYE.

Now if you do daily pay in uber that could have an impact on it.

Talking about uber... the question i guess is... what's the cutoff for uber?

does anyone really know?

Has uber told anyone?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> You say that but the cab company i worked for pays out daily and "technically" pays out all credit card transactions to us at the time of processing by crediting us at the time of processing... the 1099 they send out splits the year at 11:59 12/31 and 12:00 AM 1/1.
> (we then have the right to be paid out at any time that we don't owe the company money)
> 
> Square does it's own thing, it's all fubar and it end up in the year it ends up LOL.
> ...


You raise a good point about the daily pay- I hadn't thought of that. Maybe someone who was working a year ago can shed some light on how Uber handled it for 2015.
The whole time I have been getting 1099s the cutoff has been based on the when the checks were dated, just as when I was a salaried corporate employee.


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

Older Chauffeur said:


> You raise a good point about the daily pay- I hadn't thought of that. Maybe someone who was working a year ago can shed some light on how Uber handled it for 2015.
> The whole time I have been getting 1099s the cutoff has been based on the when the checks were dated, just as when I was a salaried corporate employee.


With how little information Uber actually gives that's easier said than done,
As far as i know the documentation that uber sends will not be detailed enough to really tell.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> With how little information Uber actually gives that's easier said than done,
> As far as i know the documentation that uber sends will not be detailed enough to really tell.


All one can do is compare earnings and deposits to the 1099.


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

Older Chauffeur said:


> All one can do is compare earnings and deposits to the 1099. _*And Pray it's correct*_


Modified quote


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> Modified quote


If you add up the deposits shown on your bank statement for the year, that total should match what Uber lists on the 1099, minus their fees, if they list gross customer payments. I think that's what they did last year.


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## zordac (Aug 2, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> If you add up the deposits shown on your bank statement for the year, that total should match what Uber lists on the 1099, minus their fees, if they list gross customer payments. I think that's what they did last year.


Are you saying they list the pre Uber deduction amount on the 1099 they send us as our income and not the net amount that we actually receive?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

zordac said:


> Are you saying they list the pre Uber deduction amount on the 1099 they send us as our income and not the net amount that we actually receive?


That's what I am remembering, but I have not seen one of Uber's 1099s.


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## samuraikitty (Nov 23, 2016)

RobertDavid said:


> Qowpel, still not time yet to file taxes for 2016. I'm new to driving as well but do know that we should get a 1099 probably sometime in Jan. 2017. Our 1099 will include all earnings up til midnight on Dec. 31st this year.


You don't have to file quarterly estimated tax for self employed?


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

samuraikitty said:


> You don't have to file quarterly estimated tax for self employed?


you don't file quarterly ever

You have to make quarterly payments, if you owed more than $1000... Last year

Which won't apply to most markets, only NYC, Seattle, and markets with similar rates...

For people who don't make quarterly payments your tax bill is due in full on april 18th


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## samuraikitty (Nov 23, 2016)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> you don't file quarterly you have to make quarterly payments, if you owed more than $1000... Last year
> 
> Which won't apply to most markets, only NYC, Seattle, and markets with similar rates...


I'll be in Seattle.


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## samuraikitty (Nov 23, 2016)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> Assuming this is your first year, you will end up owing money to Uncle Sam after deducting your miles. But you were/are not entitled to pay quarterly for your first year.


Hmmm....lovely. I will actually be starting next year (2017) in the spring.


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

samuraikitty said:


> I'll be in Seattle.


sorry for the confusion, your tax bill for 2016 is due IN FULL with the refund your first year if you don't make payments.


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## samuraikitty (Nov 23, 2016)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> sorry for the confusion, your tax bill for 2016 is due IN FULL with the refund your first year if you don't make payments.


Ah, gotcha. I haven't started yet but I plan to have a financial adviser and be on top of my taxes if possible.


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

samuraikitty said:


> Ah, gotcha. I haven't started yet but I plan to have a financial adviser and be on top of my taxes if possible.


As long as you have a mileage log your fine,

you don't even need receipts


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## TBone (Jan 19, 2015)

Count all your Uber miles then multiply by 2. 
Quicken has a really nice app that tracks mileage and receipts then uploads to Turbo Tax.


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

TBone said:


> Count all your Uber miles then multiply by 2.
> Quicken has a really nice app that tracks mileage and receipts then uploads to Turbo Tax.


It's by 3 out here in Orlando... it's sickening how high it is out here, the taxis arn't any better so that's just the way it is..


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

TBone said:


> Count all your Uber miles then multiply by 2.
> Quicken has a really nice app that tracks mileage and receipts then uploads to Turbo Tax.


"Guesstimating," which you seem to be suggesting, won't survive an IRS audit. A contemporaneous mileage log is what they require to support business use of your vehicle.


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## Qowpel (Mar 31, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> "Guesstimating," which you seem to be suggesting, won't survive an IRS audit. A contemporaneous mileage log is what they require to support business use of your vehicle.


Ok guys so since I started April 2016, my filing for taxes is due by january 13, 2017 right? I am registered in NJ for uber driving.


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## zordac (Aug 2, 2016)

Qowpel said:


> Ok guys so since I started April 2016, my filing for taxes is due by january 13, 2017 right? I am registered in NJ for uber driving.


Where did you come up with that date? You have until April 18th to file.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Qowpel said:


> Ok guys so since I started April 2016, my filing for taxes is due by january 13, 2017 right? I am registered in NJ for uber driving.


What taxes are you talking about?


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