# Miles reported for my taxes



## dustin9973 (Feb 1, 2017)

I drove in May, June, July, and August. I am a school teacher as my other job. I made just under 7K according to my 1099k and 1099misc. Uber said I drove just 3,500 miles but I logged my miles at just under 7,600. I did do many longer drives and even did one from o hare airport to st. Louis Missouri. Does this match up to other people in the Chicago suburb area. I usually drove Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday all day and sometimes the morning rush which would end up driving to the airport or downtown Chicago which is about 50 miles away. Thanks for any help!


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## ajb62787 (Jun 15, 2016)

They have the 3,500 as miles driven while on trips. If you do not have a return trip (i.e. City to Airport but no trip from Airport to City), you can also claim as miles driven. Uber and Lyft have me combined of doing 8900 Miles while on trips whereas I have accumulated well over 30,600 Miles from driving with/without riders. I would say file the 'Under 7,600' miles as business miles at a rate of 54 cents per mile as you have it logged.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

The key is having a contemporaneous mileage log with actual beginning and ending odometer readings along with the date you drove, to substantiate the deduction. Empty return miles or those driven to reposition yourself to get pings, aka "dead" miles are a legitimate business expense.
Disclosure: I'm not a tax professional.


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## I_Like_Spam (May 10, 2015)

If you have 3500 paid miles, 7600 sounds like about what you should be counting on your tax return. It usually takes at least as many unpaid miles.


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## dustin9973 (Feb 1, 2017)

A follow question for you guys.... I am using hr block online for taxes. should i submit my log i did it manually. I would write down the date and starting ODM and ending ODM. Do you think it would be smart to go into an actual tax person to check over my numbers. It will be an extra $45 to do that but I'm thinking I may have missed something. I dont want to go in if it is going to be a waste of my time.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

dustin9973 said:


> A follow question for you guys.... I am using hr block online for taxes. should i submit my log i did it manually. I would write down the date and starting ODM and ending ODM. Do you think it would be smart to go into an actual tax person to check over my numbers. It will be an extra $45 to do that but I'm thinking I may have missed something. I dont want to go in if it is going to be a waste of my time.


Regardless of how you file your return, you don't submit your mileage log. You keep it with your copy of the return and other documents substantiating your income and deductions, in case of a future audit. 
The online program should have a section for self employment (Schedules C and SE) where you enter income and expenses to determine profit or loss from Uber/Lyft, etc. It should ask how many miles you drove related to your business. That would be where you enter the total miles, broken down by busines vs personal use. It should do the math for you, if it is anything like TurboTax.
Disclosure: I'm not a tax professional.


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## dustin9973 (Feb 1, 2017)

Thank you very much older chauffeur you have been very helpful! I hope you have a great day!


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## MDphotgrapher (Apr 22, 2016)

I live outside Washington DC I kept my log from the time I took my first trip of the day until my last drop off not counting millage to and from about 60 miles one way. Can I count this milage as well as what I have logged?


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## dustin9973 (Feb 1, 2017)

I would say you can but I am not a tax professional!


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

ajb62787 said:


> They have the 3,500 as miles driven while on trips. If you do not have a return trip (i.e. City to Airport but no trip from Airport to City), you can also claim as miles driven. Uber and Lyft have me combined of doing *8900 Miles* while on trips whereas I have accumulated well over *30,600 *Miles from driving with/without riders. I would say file the 'Under 7,600' miles as business miles at a rate of 54 cents per mile as you have it logged.


Wait, are you saying that in the time you drove for Uber, you have 8900 on-trip miles and 21,700 on-app (dead) miles?

Are you intentionally taking laps on the highway while waiting in between pings?


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

steveK2016 said:


> Wait, are you saying that in the time you drove for Uber, you have 8900 on-trip miles and 21,700 on-app (dead) miles?
> 
> Are you intentionally taking laps on the highway while waiting in between pings?


That number doesn't look that bad actually...

The orlando market is far worse,

For every 100 paid miles here we have about 200 unpaid.


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## John Highway (Feb 11, 2016)

While you have the APP on waiting for pings, you are on Uber/Lyft business and any miles you do while on said business is, in my mind, deductible. When I started driving for Uber, I made sure to install the app MileIQ which automatically tracks my miles. Uber said I drove 3532.21 miles On Trip, my actual miles driven while on Uber business, 8,332 miles.


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## John Highway (Feb 11, 2016)

steveK2016 said:


> Wait, are you saying that in the time you drove for Uber, you have 8900 on-trip miles and 21,700 on-app (dead) miles?
> 
> Are you intentionally taking laps on the highway while waiting in between pings?


Driving to a location to pick up someone, driving back from a location after dropping the passenger off, driving around looking for a ping ... all those miles adds up.


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## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

steveK2016 said:


> Wait, are you saying that in the time you drove for Uber, you have 8900 on-trip miles and 21,700 on-app (dead) miles?
> 
> Are you intentionally taking laps on the highway while waiting in between pings?


I agree. More then a 2/1 ratio on dead miles. Not good. He drives 3.44 miles to get paid for one mile. Really want to knock that down as close to a 1/1 ratio on dead miles as you can. The maximum you want is for every 2 miles you drive you have a pax in the car for one of them.


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## ubercpas (Feb 7, 2017)

As long as you have driven those miles for business purposes, you can deduct them. If you have the miles logged, and explained (purpose etc.) you should have no problem deducting them.


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