# Driving for Uber & Lyft, Mileage Log



## arich35 (Mar 11, 2016)

For those of you that drive for both Lyft and Uber how do you keep your mileage log? I have just been putting it all on one thinking that would be fine but not sure if I am doing it wrong.

I only drive on the weekend for like 8 hours total and don't make that much that I'm too worried about taxes but I am still worried.

I started in the last weekend in May and here is what I have made so far: 
Lyft: $218.04
Uber: $315.16
Profit: 

Total Miles driven: 761
Deduction: $414.75


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

arich35 said:


> For those of you that drive for both Lyft and Uber how do you keep your mileage log? I have just been putting it all on one thinking that would be fine but not sure if I am doing it wrong.
> 
> I only drive on the weekend for like 8 hours total and don't make that much that I'm too worried about taxes but I am still worried.
> 
> ...


Correct- combine all rideshare miles from both Uber/Lyft for a shift.


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

Mileage deductions is on your total miles spent while working. So whether its lyft or Uber, it doesnt matter. Youre self employed, theyre all one big customer to you. You track how many miles you used and deduct it from your earnings. 

No need to separate the log, that would be tedious as sometimes you run both apps at once, sometimes on only, or the other... Not practical at all.


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Also any empty miles you put in on the job (such as driving back from the sticks after dropping someone off going back to busier areas) are impossible to apply to just one service.


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## Sippi (Aug 22, 2018)

What kind of label do you guys put on Empty miles?


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Sippi said:


> What kind of label do you guys put on Empty miles?


You've got 2 choices...business or personal. Empty miles can be business if they have a business purpose like cruising for pings, driving to repair shop etc.
Keep track of destinations, addresses, receipts etc... to support business purpose.


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## NOXDriver (Aug 12, 2018)

The biggest problem with the IRS mileage regs is that you need to have a LOCATION (address). Miles alone are not sufficient. IRS compliant logs for transportation are in the publication. To be honest, I've never been in a taxi/bus and saw a driver record location (start or stop). To further muddy the water, for TRAVEL you can just list a city (ie broad range) yet for TRANSPORTATION they want specific locations.


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

NOXDriver said:


> To be honest, I've never been in a taxi/bus and saw a driver record location (start or stop).


You sure about that?

Taxi-meters are attached to GPS tracking when they meter on/meter off and track the start and end position, as well as the route taken.

Also the pickup/dropoff locations are input in the call center and recorded...

And I can look up my fares throughout the day off my dispatch computer at the end and copy it to my trip sheet.

And i'm *Supposed* to fill out a trip sheet based on pickup/dropoff locations. Do I?

LOL... most drivers don't but the system is pretty good at tracking everything anyway. I'd have to say 95% of my fares end up getting electronically logged. And 90% of those are accurately logged.


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## 155839 (Jul 28, 2018)

For me, it's easy. I am conducting my rideshare business from the time I pull out until the time I return.
I only drive PT, 3-5 hours per shift, 3-4 days per week. And, all the driving I do during those times is rideshare-related.
I go online on the apps when I start the car, and offline when I return.
I log the starting mileage from my odo from when I leave my driveway, and the final mileage when I park in it after returning from a rideshare shift, and calculate from that.


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

For taxes you don't separate Uber and Lyft you just add them and that's your gross revenue
that way the miles are for both too.


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

UberTaxPro said:


> You've got 2 choices...business or personal. Empty miles can be business if they have a business purpose like cruising for pings, driving to repair shop etc.
> Keep track of destinations, addresses, receipts etc... to support business purpose.


Destination Filter. 
Those final 20 miles from downtown to my house in the burbs was all with DF turned on, so I was technically online and waiting for pings, so tax deductible.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

El Gato said:


> Destination Filter.
> Those final 20 miles from downtown to my house in the burbs was all with DF turned on, so I was technically online and waiting for pings, so tax deductible.


Bit of a gray area I would say. IRS could care less if you're online or not, the issue for them (and you) is were the expenses ordinary and necessary for your business. Having income to offset expenses always helps when justifying the expenses. Expenses without income are often ordinary and necessary but can be harder to sell to the IRS in an audit.


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## MKE120 (Sep 18, 2018)

I have been thinking about this as well for a while. Couple things that makes the gray area bigger.

1. Sometimes I turn on both apps while driving back home from a far out destination. This is double dipping.
2. In the mornings, if you are commuting to work (not Uber related) and turn on your app, uber records as driving miles. If you get a few rides you can decline, but this will give you deductible miles. I think it's legal, but ethical.

I think if you add up both Uber and Lyft miles, you may end up logging more miles than Odometer Reading 12-31 minus .


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

MKE120 said:


> I have been thinking about this as well for a while. Couple things that makes the gray area bigger.
> 
> 1. Sometimes I turn on both apps while driving back home from a far out destination. This is double dipping.
> 2. In the mornings, if you are commuting to work (not Uber related) and turn on your app, uber records as driving miles. If you get a few rides you can decline, but this will give you deductible miles. I think it's legal, but ethical.
> ...


As long as you keep a contemporaneous mileage log, as required by the IRS, rather than going by what either Uber or Lyft record, you should be okay. An auditor would want you to show proof that your mileage deduction was for business use. IIRC, there's a question somewhere on the tax forms about commute miles for employment, so an auditor might ask about that, having seen evidence of regular employment, along with a deduction for mileage with no corresponding paying trips in the log.

Disclosure: I'm not a tax professional.


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

UberTaxPro said:


> Bit of a gray area I would say. IRS could care less if you're online or not, the issue for them (and you) is were the expenses ordinary and necessary for your business. Having income to offset expenses always helps when justifying the expenses. Expenses without income are often ordinary and necessary but can be harder to sell to the IRS in an audit.


true. But I also don't decline rides. Meaning, sometimes I do have income along with the expenses, and I honestly log my miles by odometer when I turn the app off- which is not always when I have arrived back a my home. (ie. I turn the app off when I'm 5 miles away or 7 miles away or 3 miles away since I' so close sometimes and tired and as I said don't want to decline a ride so not wanting to get stuck going the opposite direction will log off). So it is not like I am consistently logging 35 miles of expenses every day with zero income to show for it.

As for commuting to work. When I do turn on the app I almost 90% of the time get a ride request (f I don't then I don't deduct those miles) and that solidifies the rest of the miles to work for me no matter where I drop off the pax due to the IRS rules on commuting to a 2nd job.



> Daily transportation expenses you incur while traveling from home to one or more regular places of business are generally nondeductible commuting expenses. However, there may be exceptions to this general rule. *You can deduct daily transportation expenses incurred going between your residence and a temporary work station outside the metropolitan area where you live.* Also, daily transportation expenses can be deducted if (1) you have one or more regular work locations away from your residence; or (2) your residence is your principal place of business and you incur expenses going between the residence and another work location in the same trade or business, regardless of whether the work is temporary or permanent and regardless of the distance.
> https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463#en_US_2017_publink1000136362


Also to solve the issue of miles back home after dropping off pax with or without DF would be in the event of you taking the home office dedcution(I personally do not take that deduction)


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

El Gato said:


> true. But I also don't decline rides. Meaning, sometimes I do have income along with the expenses, and I honestly log my miles by odometer when I turn the app off- which is not always when I have arrived back a my home. (ie. I turn the app off when I'm 5 miles away or 7 miles away or 3 miles away since I' so close sometimes and tired and as I said don't want to decline a ride so not wanting to get stuck going the opposite direction will log off). So it is not like I am consistently logging 35 miles of expenses every day with zero income to show for it.
> 
> As for commuting to work. When I do turn on the app I almost 90% of the time get a ride request (f I don't then I don't deduct those miles) and that solidifies the rest of the miles to work for me no matter where I drop off the pax due to the IRS rules on commuting to a 2nd job.
> 
> ​Also to solve the issue of miles back home after dropping off pax with or without DF would be in the event of you taking the home office dedcution(I personally do not take that deduction)


Uhhh....

Find the closest gas station to your home and log in there, Top off your gas, check your tire pressure, wash your windshield.. ect... Wait 5 minutes see if you get a ping... then move on. And on your way home you stop back at it and top off your gasoline on your way home.

BOOM...

It becomes "an errand in the purpose of the job" and the "first stop" while your working.

Kinda easy to justify if you look at it like that. And if you want to START your day with a full tank of gas you have to fill up as close to home as possible....


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## Pax Collector (Feb 18, 2018)

As long as you log in your starting and ending miles DAILY you're fine. No need to separate Uber and Lyft. 

P.S. the first few miles you drive to pick up your first pax may or may not be deductible.


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## Las Vegas Dude (Sep 3, 2018)

I have been logging in at home and starting my mileage from there. I count my mileage to get my first ping, do my shift then using destination filter to get home and turning off the mileage when I get home. I have the app on from start to finish. Is that correct way to do it?


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## AuxCordBoston (Dec 3, 2016)

Las Vegas Dude said:


> I have been logging in at home and starting my mileage from there. I count my mileage to get my first ping, do my shift then using destination filter to get home and turning off the mileage when I get home. I have the app on from start to finish. Is that correct way to do it?


You need the destination address for each ride.


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## Las Vegas Dude (Sep 3, 2018)

But what if I’m driving around looking for pings?


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## AuxCordBoston (Dec 3, 2016)

Las Vegas Dude said:


> But what if I'm driving around looking for pings?


You can drive around. You enter drop off destination of ride, then add total miles (driving around and time getting to destination once you accept the request) until next pickup, then enter next pickup address.


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## Las Vegas Dude (Sep 3, 2018)

So every pick up and drop off has to be logged during the shift? You can’t just do a start and finish destination for the shift with the total miles like I have been doing? I have been just starting the mileage app when I leave and stopping the app when I get home and it tells me the total miles and the start and stop location.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

AuxCordBoston said:


> You can drive around. You enter drop off destination of ride, then add total miles (driving around and time getting to destination once you accept the request) until next pickup, then enter next pickup address.


I'm not a tax professional, but I think you can put the destination once for each shift. For instance, you live in a suburb and drive to the city center to wait for pings. That would be the destination, and the business purpose would be rideshare. As long as you have that and your starting and ending odometer readings and the date, I think you meet the requirements. IRS Pub 463 even allows "area" as the destination. I don't believe they would expect to see a list of every pick up and drop off during a shift.


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## islanddriver (Apr 6, 2018)

Uber give you that if you need. It also has total mileage on line


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

Start at page 25


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## vtcomics (Oct 9, 2018)

AuxCordBoston said:


> You can drive around. You enter drop off destination of ride, then add total miles (driving around and time getting to destination once you accept the request) until next pickup, then enter next pickup address.


This is exactly how I do it too. Tedious to update the Excel sheet and bounce back and forth from the Uber stats and Google Maps, but everything is recorded. Need Google Maps to find/record the miles after drop-off to the next rider/trip. That gap is of course not listed in the Uber stats. Some will make the argument that this is overkill and you only need odometer readings at start and end of working; but I've seen some audits that rejected such a simplistic method. Listing addresses is really what they like to see. Just my own experience.


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## Gilby (Nov 7, 2017)

I suspect you could get all the pickup and dropoff addresses from Uber and Lyft if you need them for an audit. My accountant never asked for addresses. In my previous job I deducted miles for sales calls, but never gave locations.


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## islanddriver (Apr 6, 2018)

It doesn't ask for address can be City town or area. Also Uber does give you all online miles as well as trip miles.


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## hydeflow (Jul 6, 2018)

vtcomics said:


> This is exactly how I do it too. Tedious to update the Excel sheet and bounce back and forth from the Uber stats and Google Maps, but everything is recorded. Need Google Maps to find/record the miles after drop-off to the next rider/trip. That gap is of course not listed in the Uber stats. Some will make the argument that this is overkill and you only need odometer readings at start and end of working; but I've seen some audits that rejected such a simplistic method. Listing addresses is really what they like to see. Just my own experience.


That's what I've been doing also -- but here's the question I can't seem to find an answer to. I don't always make a direct bee line from previous destination to next pickup. There are a lot of dead miles in between, and that's where I slip in the dead miles because there is no exact address for when I finally get the next ping. I'm always at a random spot on the parkway, or I may be driving up and down the same road over and over until I get one. So if an IRS agent actually plugged the destinations in Google, the distance would be WAY less than what I put in there. How do you handle this?


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

hydeflow said:


> That's what I've been doing also -- but here's the question I can't seem to find an answer to. I don't always make a direct bee line from previous destination to next pickup. There are a lot of dead miles in between, and that's where I slip in the dead miles because there is no exact address for when I finally get the next ping. I'm always at a random spot on the parkway, or I may be driving up and down the same road over and over until I get one. So if an IRS agent actually plugged the destinations in Google, the distance would be WAY less than what I put in there. How do you handle this?


There's always been a descrepency between the numbers on the log and the total miles driven. For most businesses it lines up mostly perfectly for taxis it's a grey area... and a VERY long standing well known issue.

The IRS has been dealing with taxis since day one of the IRS.

You are a taxi driver....
Don't argue that fact... it's what you are... a badly paid (relative to taxi drivers) taxi driver.

Just do it like all the other taxi drivers have been doing it for 100 years and you will be fine.

Where they come down on taxi drivers isn't expenses it's under/unreported income. 
(That and people deducting more miles than they could possibly have driven)

The fact that you actually HAVE a log puts you miles ahead of most drivers.

Personally... I would log home to home , the heck with the rules, the irs isn't going to nitpick your log, it should be hundreds of lines and they aren't going to start calculating mileage on a single day, let alone for the year.

As long as you have a log they will accept it.

If your really driving as many miles as you claim to be and you have a log there's nothing to worry about.


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## AuxCordBoston (Dec 3, 2016)

hydeflow said:


> That's what I've been doing also -- but here's the question I can't seem to find an answer to. I don't always make a direct bee line from previous destination to next pickup. There are a lot of dead miles in between, and that's where I slip in the dead miles because there is no exact address for when I finally get the next ping. I'm always at a random spot on the parkway, or I may be driving up and down the same road over and over until I get one. So if an IRS agent actually plugged the destinations in Google, the distance would be WAY less than what I put in there. How do you handle this?


Let's say you drop off a pax at a restaurant and end the ride. Let's say you then turn the app on and receive no pings. Let's say you drive 20 miles to an area where you will get pings. Let's say you then get a ping. That 20 miles should be entered in your log. You would enter the destination where you dropped off pax and the destination where you picked up next pax. That 20 miles will count towards the miles you enter on your schedule C.

Uber differs from taxis in that there is very little underreported income (cash tips only). So the IRS will not request records in search of unreported income. The IRS will look at your miles listed in schedule C to see if you entered exaggerated miles.


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