# Estimated quarterly taxes?



## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

HI all, I just started driving in the first week of September. Earned maybe $2800 so far. How do I do the quarterly tax thing, or do I not have to worry about that yet?

Is it okay to just wait til the end of the year and then file my taxes in January, or is there anything else I need to do beforehand? I'm pretty confused, and appreciate as much (detailed) info as possible. Thanks!


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

UbaBrah said:


> HI all, I just started driving in the first week of September. Earned maybe $2800 so far. How do I do the quarterly tax thing, or do I not have to worry about that yet?
> 
> Is it okay to just wait til the end of the year and then file my taxes in January, or is there anything else I need to do beforehand? I'm pretty confused, and appreciate as much (detailed) info as possible. Thanks!


Do you drive full time or part time? Is this your primary/only source of income? Each person's tax situation is different so what is best for you may not be best for someone else. Also, be careful of the advice you get on this forum as many times people give inaccurate information. Remember to keep in mind the difference between someone's opinion and a true fact.

Having put all the disclaimers in, in my opinion you should not have to worry about filing quarterly taxes. Although personal circumstances could come in to play, generally speaking driving rideshare is not profitable so your taxes should be very little to none. Make sure you develop a system to diligently track all your expenses. Your biggest deduction will be mileage but there are a lot of other ones as well.

I have never heard of any driver that actually paid quarterly taxes. Most either show a loss or a small profit and you can pay the small taxes owed when you file your taxes. Keep in mind if this is your only source of income you will have to pay the self employment tax in place of social security.

Welcome and good luck!


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

UbaBrah said:


> HI all, I just started driving in the first week of September. Earned maybe $2800 so far. How do I do the quarterly tax thing, or do I not have to worry about that yet?
> 
> Is it okay to just wait til the end of the year and then file my taxes in January, or is there anything else I need to do beforehand? I'm pretty confused, and appreciate as much (detailed) info as possible. Thanks!


The most important single thing you can do for your business (yes it is a business) is keep a detailed mileage log.


----------



## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

I appreciate you both, thanks. I'll keep a detailed mileage log and then just file in January with everybody else since I've only worked this quarter in 2019 anyway. The standard deduction seems to be the way to go.

I have chronic fatigue so I haven't worked in some time, I've been supported by family up until September. Now Uber is my full time income in addition to that support. Glad to be back out there and productive again.


----------



## White tiger Goddess (Oct 21, 2019)

UberTaxPro said:


> The most important single thing you can do for your business (yes it is a business) is keep a detailed mileage log.


I installed an app mile IQ to keep track of my driving, its $5.99 a month after the trial period and it's a tax deduction


----------



## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

Thanks for that, I just installed it as well.


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

UbaBrah said:


> Thanks for that, I just installed it as well.


It's a good investment. 90% of drivers don't maintain an IRS compliant log. To be IRS compliant the mileage log must contain the address of each stop. You will hear a bunch of people saying that's not required but they don't know what they are talking about. It would be cumbersome to do manually, like an old taxi log. Apps are the way to go but very few track each point address. I use an app called Triplog. Mileage is your biggest deduction by far so if on the rare chance you got audited you want to protect your deduction by having a compliant log.


----------



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

UbaBrah said:


> HI all, I just started driving in the first week of September. Earned maybe $2800 so far. How do I do the quarterly tax thing, or do I not have to worry about that yet?
> 
> Is it okay to just wait til the end of the year and then file my taxes in January, or is there anything else I need to do beforehand? I'm pretty confused, and appreciate as much (detailed) info as possible. Thanks!


What _*city your in *_and which service you drive for has a greater impact on how much you will owe than how much you _*actually make*_.

the per mile/per minute rate vary by as much as 700%, while the standard mileage rate (what you can deduct for expenses) is consistent nation wide.

The most important thing that you need is the total number of miles you have driven in the course of earning that $2,800.

If you have driven more than 4,827 miles you lost money according to the IRS and won't owe any taxes on any of that income, if you drove less than 4,827 miles you have a taxable profit by IRS standards and will owe tax.

For instance, if i make $1,000 renting an ubertaxi vehicle in Orlando i will definitely owe taxes, yet if i had $1,000 in uberX income in Orlando i won't owe shit.

yet if i had $1,000 in Seattle Washington on uberX i would in fact owe taxes.

$1,000 uber taxi = taxes owed
$1,000 uberx orlando = no taxes owed.
$1,000 uberX seattle = taxes owed.

So we need more details bro...


----------



## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

Seamus said:


> It's a good investment. 90% of drivers don't maintain an IRS compliant log. To be IRS compliant the mileage log must contain the address of each stop. You will hear a bunch of people saying that's not required but they don't know what they are talking about. It would be cumbersome to do manually, like an old taxi log. Apps are the way to go but very few track each point address. I use an app called Triplog. Mileage is your biggest deduction by far so if on the rare chance you got audited you want to protect your deduction by having a compliant log.


I feel a bit dumb for starting so late in the game, what should I do, just fire it up as of now and then claim the undocumented miles anyway (about 3000 in Columbia, SC)? Or can I only really claim what the app shows from today onwards? Thanks Seamus.


----------



## kingcorey321 (May 20, 2018)

UbaBrah said:


> HI all, I just started driving in the first week of September. Earned maybe $2800 so far. How do I do the quarterly tax thing, or do I not have to worry about that yet?
> 
> Is it okay to just wait til the end of the year and then file my taxes in January, or is there anything else I need to do beforehand? I'm pretty confused, and appreciate as much (detailed) info as possible. Thanks!


uber and lyft will give you a summary of how many miles you drove. when you get this i suggest you talk to your tax pro about doubling the miles it says you actually drove its called claiming dead miles . use turbo tax they help you .
also keep in mind you will NOT get a 1099 so the ira will NOT get a 1099 meaning your earning under less then 20000 from uber or lyft 
the irs is not informed your working for lyft or uber. meaning you may be using the standard deduction it may benefit you more then claiming your miles . i am not a tax pro but i always done my own taxes for the past 25 years . i have to think if you filed 1/4 taxes your just throwing money a way doing it i would wait to the end of the year again no need to track your miles its automatically recorded no need to stress out spend money crap to track it . if i had to bet 10k i would wager you will benefit from using the standard deduction over claiming your lyft uber driving . you only earned 2500 so will say your going to make less then 5k this year . 
personally i would keep my driving a secret from everybody never claim it


----------



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

UbaBrah said:


> I feel a bit dumb for starting so late in the game, what should I do, just fire it up as of now and then claim the undocumented miles anyway (about 3000 in Columbia, SC)? Or can I only really claim what the app shows from today onwards? Thanks Seamus.


You'll owe a little bit, you have about $1,000 in taxable profit so far, which means if you keep it up you might have 2,000-3,000 in taxable profit on the year.

I'd squirrel away like $50 a week to save for taxes.


----------



## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

Ah, okay. I thought Uber reported anything over 400 or 600, but I guess that's only from incentives and such, the 20k is from rides. But I'll still be a good boy about it. 

What an awesome community btw, great to have such real and useful input. Love to all.


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

UbaBrah said:


> I feel a bit dumb for starting so late in the game, what should I do, just fire it up as of now and then claim the undocumented miles anyway (about 3000 in Columbia, SC)? Or can I only really claim what the app shows from today onwards? Thanks Seamus.


My opinion is I would claim them all (previous to today) and document from this day forward. The worse that can happen is on the rare chance of an audit they could just disallow the undocumented portion. Only an opinion though.



kingcorey321 said:


> uber and lyft will give you a summary of how many miles you drove. when you get this i suggest you talk to your tax pro about doubling the miles it says you actually drove its called claiming dead miles . use turbo tax they help you .
> also keep in mind you will NOT get a 1099 so the ira will NOT get a 1099 meaning your earning under less then 20000 from uber or lyft
> the irs is not informed your working for lyft or uber. meaning you may be using *the standard deduction it may benefit you more then claiming your miles . * i am not a tax pro but i always done my own taxes for the past 25 years . i have to think if you filed 1/4 taxes your just throwing money a way doing it i would wait to the end of the year again no need to track your miles its automatically recorded no need to stress out spend money crap to track it . if i had to bet 10k i would wager you will benefit from using the standard deduction over claiming your lyft uber driving . you only earned 2500 so will say your going to make less then 5k this year .
> personally i would keep my driving a secret from everybody never claim it


If that is what you have been doing (standard deduction instead of U/L expenses) then you have been cheating yourself. The standard deduction on your 1040 has absolutely nothing to do with your U/L expenses. You deduct Both.

Your U/L revenue and expenses are added and deducted on schedule C to establish a business income/loss. That business income or loss is then transferred to your personal 1040. From your personal 1040 the standard deduction is taken.


----------



## Kerry33 (Mar 13, 2019)

I always file quarterly taxes. At the worst it a savings plan. At best saves penalties. It’s web site gives clear instructions on how to set it up. I use intuit self employed to track miles.


----------



## kingcorey321 (May 20, 2018)

Seamus said:


> My opinion is I would claim them all (previous to today) and document from this day forward. The worse that can happen is on the rare chance of an audit they could just disallow the undocumented portion. Only an opinion though.
> 
> 
> If that is what you have been doing (standard deduction instead of U/L expenses) then you have been cheating yourself. The standard deduction on your 1040 has absolutely nothing to do with your U/L expenses. You deduct Both.
> ...


you are incorrect in my situation . i actually did 2 different copies of my taxes 1 filing the miles and claiming the lyft uber income .
the other acting like a broke ass just taking the standard deduction i actually made a bit more using the standard about grand extra on my taxes .
again to keep my self out of trouble i am going to say i make everything up


----------



## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

I refuse to pay quarterly taxes.. because I drive enough every year that after deductions for milage my tax liability is less than Zero.. in fact last year they sent me a check. Thanks IRS I love to game the system...


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

kingcorey321 said:


> you are incorrect in my situation . i actually did 2 different copies of my taxes 1 filing the miles and claiming the lyft uber income .
> the other acting like a broke ass just taking the standard deduction i actually made a bit more using the standard about grand extra on my taxes .
> again to keep my self out of trouble i am going to say i make everything up


I gotcha. That's a whole other matter then. I was referring to someone who was completing a schedule C so it wouldn't pertain to you. LOL


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

UbaBrah said:


> I feel a bit dumb for starting so late in the game, what should I do, just fire it up as of now and then claim the undocumented miles anyway (about 3000 in Columbia, SC)? Or can I only really claim what the app shows from today onwards? Thanks Seamus.


If you have documented a good portion of your yearly mileage the IRS will accept within reason an estimate of business miles for the undocumented portion based on the documented portion. It's a bit tricky and I left out some details but it is doable.


----------



## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

also remember IRS cares about the net, not the gross. You pay taxes on the net. First year I wouldn't bother. It's typically after the first year you MISSED by wide range IRS will tell you what you need to do. But with .58 per mile deduction you don't have a lot to worry about.
Some of us even AIM for biz tax loss to offset other income reported to deal ole IRS......


----------



## MajorBummer (Aug 10, 2019)

i reset my trip meter in my car every morning to zero.At the end of the day i write down the miles i drove.
Passenger miles and dead miles combined. If you earn more than $600 in a year you will get a 1099 from Uber and Lyft and a copy goes to the IRS.
With running both apps at the same time,its too complicated to separate which miles you drove where and when.
I just keep a daily log with the date.
I have done the mileage in my other job without giving location where i drove for 20 years,been audited once and had no problems.
your best bet is to ask a professional accountant.


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Terrible advice^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1- You are writing down miles with no odometer reading will get your miles disallowed.
2- You did this for 20 years and the IRS had no problem? Bogus! You were probably getting a mileage reimbursement from an employer which has no bearing to the IRS. We are talking about schedule C deductions which are totally different and just your total miles without odometer readings won't fly.
3- You must be new to rideshare and don't understand the 1099 issuance that is relevant. If you get bonus or incentive money over $600 you will get a 1099 misc. If you get *rideshare money from driving pax* you get a 1099*k if over $20,000, *less than that you get no 1099K.

The only thing you said that makes any sense is "ask a professional accountant." I bet you have never filed a schedule C with rideshare revenue included yet.


----------



## MajorBummer (Aug 10, 2019)

Wasnt giving advice,just told you how i do it.And the 20 years i was talking about were in selfemployment ,no re-embursements.
Clarification>> by saying 1099 i meant your income will be reported and you get some form of 1099.i did rideshare last year and there is a reason i have an accountant.
i was not giving advise . btw , my wife and i have been self employed for 33 years in separate businesses and have always used an accountant. so there MR terrible advice.:confusion::thumbdown:


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

MajorBummer said:


> Wasnt giving advice,just told you how i do it.And the 20 years i was talking about were in selfemployment ,no re-embursements.
> Clarification>> by saying 1099 i meant your income will be reported and you get some form of 1099.i did rideshare last year and there is a reason i have an accountant.
> i was not giving advise . btw , my wife and i have been self employed for 33 years in separate businesses and have always used an accountant. so there MR terrible advice.:confusion::thumbdown:


Thanks for clarifying you were providing misinformation and not advice.:thumbup::wink:


----------



## MajorBummer (Aug 10, 2019)

Yikes,the love in this forum.roflmao


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Seamus said:


> It's a good investment. 90% of drivers don't maintain an IRS compliant log. To be IRS compliant the mileage log must contain the address of each stop. You will hear a bunch of people saying that's not required but they don't know what they are talking about. It would be cumbersome to do manually, like an old taxi log. Apps are the way to go but very few track each point address. I use an app called Triplog. Mileage is your biggest deduction by far so if on the rare chance you got audited you want to protect your deduction by having a compliant log.


I'm still keeping a detailed manual log, I finally quit using the apps that track this information as I routinely had a 3-5% variance from my written logs. 3-5% of the total miles driven over a year is too much for me to give up. Plus I have put in for numerous fare adjustments where the Uber and or Lyft app also did not record the proper miles on some trips. Since I keep detailed records I can easily pick these out.

For the record I am in a market that is slower than most so I do have time while waiting on pings to keep my records up to date.


----------



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

FLKeys said:


> I'm still keeping a detailed manual log, I finally quit using the apps that track this information as I routinely had a 3-5% variance from my written logs. 3-5% of the total miles driven over a year is too much for me to give up. Plus I have put in for numerous fare adjustments where the Uber and or Lyft app also did not record the proper miles on some trips. Since I keep detailed records I can easily pick these out.
> 
> For the record I am in a market that is slower than most so I do have time while waiting on pings to keep my records up to date.


The GPS method of tracking miles isn't perfect that's for sure. I can easily adjust my odometer miles though when I save a location. I have to do that once or twice a shift usually because it accumulates a mile difference over time between the GPS tracked miles and the actual odometer reading.


----------



## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

kingcorey321 said:


> uber and lyft will give you a summary of how many miles you drove. when you get this i suggest you talk to your tax pro about doubling the miles it says you actually drove its called claiming dead miles . use turbo tax they help you .
> also keep in mind you will NOT get a 1099 so the ira will NOT get a 1099 meaning your earning under less then 20000 from uber or lyft
> the irs is not informed your working for lyft or uber. meaning you may be using the standard deduction it may benefit you more then claiming your miles . i am not a tax pro but i always done my own taxes for the past 25 years . i have to think if you filed 1/4 taxes your just throwing money a way doing it i would wait to the end of the year again no need to track your miles its automatically recorded no need to stress out spend money crap to track it . if i had to bet 10k i would wager you will benefit from using the standard deduction over claiming your lyft uber driving . you only earned 2500 so will say your going to make less then 5k this year .
> personally i would keep my driving a secret from everybody never claim it


You are overstating your mileage. Last years mileage on both Uber and Lyft was for all miles that you had the app on, whether with pax or not. Plus, if you have both apps on you are claiming double your mileage. Someone already posted something about standard deduction, has nothing to do with your Uber expenses.


----------



## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

MajorBummer said:


> If you earn more than $600 in a year you will get a 1099 from Uber and Lyft and a copy goes to the IRS.


IIRC, Uber (and maybe Lyft?) issues a 1099misc for incentives, i.e.- money THEY pay you directly, with a reporting threshold of $600. Your regular trip earnings that they process have a reporting threshold of $20,000.

My usual disclaimer


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Older Chauffeur said:


> IIRC, Uber (and maybe Lyft?) issues a 1099misc for incentives, i.e.- money THEY pay you directly, with a reporting threshold of $600. Your regular trip earnings that they process have a reporting threshold of $20,000.
> 
> My usual disclaimer


Yes you RC correctly! 1099M for incentives and 1099K for credit card (trip earnings).


----------



## Angel16 (Oct 31, 2019)

UberTaxPro said:


> The most important single thing you can do for your business (yes it is a business) is keep a detailed mileage log.


Can you do hand written mileage logs?


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Angel16 said:


> Can you do hand written mileage logs?


Absolutely, not to long ago it was the only accepted way!


----------



## Tarvus (Oct 3, 2018)

Multiply your total miles driven by $0.58. Subtract that from your gross revenue. If you are lucky enough to be in positive territory, multiply the difference by the sum of 0.155 (for self-employment tax) plus your federal and state income tax rate from the previous year. That should get you close. If, as is likely, you show a negative number, you will not owe tax.


----------



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

Best way to log it is to hand write your odometer readings.


----------



## NorCalPhil (Aug 19, 2016)

For those of you using apps to track mileage, i'd suggest writing down your odometer readings for a while and test the accuracy of the app you use. I found them very inaccurate.


----------



## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Pay quarterly taxes, or pay a penalty.


----------



## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Trafficat said:


> Pay quarterly taxes, or pay a penalty.


Not necessarily. IIRC, as long as at filing time you have paid in at least an amount equal to 100% of your preceding year's taxes, or 90%of the current year's tax liability, or you owe no more than $1000 there's no penalty. You can pay through regular employment where taxes are withheld as some part timers do, or if you have taxable pension income or investments that withhold taxes from withdrawals as retirees might. I think I wound up paying quarterly for one year back when I first started as an Independent contractor 16 years ago, and have never had a problem.

Disclaimer: I'm not a tax professional.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

NorCalPhil said:


> For those of you using apps to track mileage, i'd suggest writing down your odometer readings for a while and test the accuracy of the app you use. I found them very inaccurate.


Agree, I found on average a 5% discrepancy, always tracking less miles than my odometer.


----------



## percy_ardmore (Jun 4, 2019)

Trafficat said:


> Pay quarterly taxes, or pay a penalty.


The IRS doesn't know when you started receiving SE income, only that you did because Uber/Lyft/DD/GH/PM etc sent them the same form they sent you. It's a good practice to send something to poor IRS quarterly to avoid shock tax in the spring. It's rare to incur lack of estimated tax payments penalty, you would have to show considerable net profit and blow them off all year.


----------

