# Doing taxes. Am I doing this right?



## superjtrdr (Jun 9, 2015)

Here is is a break down of what I am doing. I drive for Uber full time and I am doing my taxes using turbotax myself for the first time. I am using the mileage deductions method.
I take "Your Gross Earnings" and subtract " Expenses Fees and Tax" which is all the fees Uber takes out according to Ubers Tax Summary for 2018. Then I subtract mileage which is .545 per miles driving to pick up and drop off as well driving around looking for rides. I can also deduct car washes and cleaning supplies. If I purchased a cell phone I can deduct that as well as internet service at my house. Also I can deduct my cell phone monthly charge.

Other than answering questions about healthcare and home ownership that's it or am I doing something wrong?


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## Paladin220 (Jun 2, 2017)

How are you justifying home internet service?


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

superjtrdr said:


> Here is is a break down of what I am doing. I drive for Uber full time and I am doing my taxes using turbotax myself for the first time. I am using the mileage deductions method.
> I take "Your Gross Earnings" and subtract " Expenses Fees and Tax" which is all the fees Uber takes out according to Ubers Tax Summary for 2018. Then I subtract mileage which is .545 per miles driving to pick up and drop off as well driving around looking for rides. I can also deduct car washes and cleaning supplies. If I purchased a cell phone I can deduct that as well as internet service at my house. Also I can deduct my cell phone monthly charge.
> 
> Other than answering questions about healthcare and home ownership that's it or am I doing something wrong?


Be careful with the car washes they are considered maintenance included in the SMR. Do you have a home office? Also don't forget that all expenses must be pro rated by business use %


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

superjtrdr said:


> Here is is a break down of what I am doing. I drive for Uber full time and I am doing my taxes using turbotax myself for the first time. I am using the mileage deductions method.
> I take "Your Gross Earnings" and subtract " Expenses Fees and Tax" which is all the fees Uber takes out according to Ubers Tax Summary for 2018. Then I subtract mileage which is .545 per miles driving to pick up and drop off as well driving around looking for rides. I can also deduct car washes and cleaning supplies. If I purchased a cell phone I can deduct that as well as internet service at my house. Also I can deduct my cell phone monthly charge.
> 
> Other than answering questions about healthcare and home ownership that's it or am I doing something wrong?



Car washes are generally included in standard mileage deduction. There are some exceptions to this however you need records to prove it.
Mileage - Do you have proper written records for your mileage deductions?
Cleaning Supplies - I would claim any supply I bought specifically for ride share.
Cell phone - 100% use for ride share, yes deduct it and the monthly service bill. IF both business and personal, split it based on percentage of use.
Home internet service is a far stretch in my opinion. If you have a qualifying home office the internet service may be included in that calculation. There are two methods simplified or itemized. With simplified there is no recapture when you sell the home.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Paladin220 said:


> How are you justifying home internet service?


My business model was different from the ride share platform, driving my private clients as well as those from a driver-only service I worked for as an IC. Because I used email and also had a second phone line for FAX, and bookings and billing were done using them, I deducted a portion of those bills, along with my cellphone bill. I reduced the percentage over the years as I cut back from full time to part time driving, to 10% this past year. (I effectively "retired" as of 12/31/18.) I eliminated the second phone line, and notified the city to cancel my business tax account. If I'm ever audited, I think I can make a case for my deductions related to doing business.


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## superjtrdr (Jun 9, 2015)

Paladin220 said:


> How are you justifying home internet service?


since it can be questioned I am going to take that one out. One example is I used it to get information like this and info on how to be a better rideshare driver.



UberTaxPro said:


> Be careful with the car washes they are considered maintenance included in the SMR. Do you have a home office? Also don't forget that all expenses must be pro rated by business use %


I don't have a home office but I know I would be doing 1/5 the cleaning if I didn't do ridesharing. I guess I will multiply 4/5 the amount.



FLKeys said:


> Car washes are generally included in standard mileage deduction. There are some exceptions to this however you need records to prove it.
> Mileage - Do you have proper written records for your mileage deductions?
> Cleaning Supplies - I would claim any supply I bought specifically for ride share.
> Cell phone - 100% use for ride share, yes deduct it and the monthly service bill. IF both business and personal, split it based on percentage of use.
> Home internet service is a far stretch in my opinion. If you have a qualifying home office the internet service may be included in that calculation. There are two methods simplified or itemized. With simplified there is no recapture when you sell the home.


Yes I use a mileage tracker . I will chop the phone usage in half


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## Uberbrent (Mar 22, 2016)

I’ll say it again. It doesn’t cost that much to use a professional, certified accountant to do your taxes and answer questions. If you take ANY advice from any other source including tax software, you do so at your own risk. The people on this forum are not going to cover your costs in the event an audit shows that you really can’t take a certain deduction. But hey, roll the dice...take that home office, lunches with “clients”, and anything else you can come across for your ride share business. 

By the way, using an accountant to do your taxes is a valid tax deduction.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Uberbrent said:


> By the way, using an accountant to do your taxes is a valid tax deduction.


Is this still allowed? My CPA used to split his fees between business and personal, and I think the personal was under the 2% of AGI limits. I thought that deduction went away with the new tax laws, but perhaps that was just the personal portion. If so, I may have missed half the $39.95 I spent for Turbo Tax in 2018.-o::biggrin:


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Uberbrent said:


> I'll say it again. It doesn't cost that much to use a professional, certified accountant to do your taxes and answer questions. If you take ANY advice from any other source including tax software, you do so at your own risk. The people on this forum are not going to cover your costs in the event an audit shows that you really can't take a certain deduction. But hey, roll the dice...take that home office, lunches with "clients", and anything else you can come across for your ride share business.
> 
> By the way, using an accountant to do your taxes is a valid tax deduction.


Yes, agree with everything you said except "using an accountant to do your taxes is a valid tax deduction." which I agree with partially. The new tax law has removed tax prep fees from the list of things you can itemize this year. However, the business portion of your return is still deductible on your schedule C. You'll need to allocate your tax prep fee between personal and business.

[QUOTE="Older Chauffeur, post: 4893731, member: 3436"
Is this still allowed? My CPA used to split his fees between business and personal, and I think the personal was under the 2% of AGI limits. I thought that deduction went away with the new tax laws, but perhaps that was just the personal portion. If so, I may have missed half the $39.95 I spent for Turbo Tax in 2018.-o::biggrin:
[/QUOTE]
Yes! sorry I didn't read this till after I opened my mouth above


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