# How the $.56 tax deduction works.



## Marcuber (Oct 23, 2014)

So if you made lets say on 5000 miles, technically, you can claim an additional 5000 miles that you made while you were driving around looking for customers, or when you were coming back from a trip. That means you drove 10,000 miles, multiplied by 56 cents = $5600. hypothetically, if you made $10,000 and you have to pay $2000 in taxes... that means with your deduction you have to pay - $3600. Does the IRS give you those $3600? 

Thanks


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## Oc_DriverX (Apr 29, 2014)

It is not a deduction. It is an allowable expense figure. So if you had revenue of $10,000, then you would subtract $5,600 in expenses. Your net income would be $4,400. You would then show the $4,400 as your business profit. You would also owe self employment taxes on that $4,400. The $4,400 would then be added to any other income you had to get to your AGI.

By the way, there is no allowance to just claim an additional 5,000 miles of dead miles just because you "think" that is how many dead miles you have. You should be logging the miles so that you can show exactly how many dead miles your drove.


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## Uberdawg (Oct 23, 2014)

Marcuber said:


> So if you made lets say on 5000 miles, technically, you can claim an additional 5000 miles that you made while you were driving around looking for customers, or when you were coming back from a trip. That means you drove 10,000 miles, multiplied by 56 cents = $5600. hypothetically, if you made $10,000 and you have to pay $2000 in taxes... that means with your deduction you have to pay - $3600. Does the IRS give you those $3600?
> 
> Thanks


What Oc said.


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## gaj (Nov 11, 2014)

That is correct. You cannot guess on dead miles, this is why you keep a log of all miles driven from "app-on" to "app-off".

If you didn't keep this log, the "trip miles" on the Uber tax summary page would be the only number that I would consider usable for mileage expenses.

And losing half your miles might make you consider keeping a paper log for any future IRS questions/audits.


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## mp775 (Jun 26, 2014)

Oc_DriverX said:


> It is not a deduction. It is an allowable expense figure. So if you had revenue of $10,000, then you would subtract $5,600 in expenses. Your net income would be $4,400. You would then show the $4,400 as your business profit. You would also owe self employment taxes on that $4,400. The $4,400 would then be added to any other income you had to get to your AGI.


That *is* a deduction. The scenario in Marcuber's question is a credit.


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## WTF-uber (Feb 1, 2015)

gaj said:


> That is correct. You cannot guess on dead miles, this is why you keep a log of all miles driven from "app-on" to "app-off".
> 
> If you didn't keep this log, the "trip miles" on the Uber tax summary page would be the only number that I would consider usable for mileage expenses.
> 
> And losing half your miles might make you consider keeping a paper log for any future IRS questions/audits.


From a process standpoint, how are you logging your dead miles?


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## Uberdawg (Oct 23, 2014)

I just note in a small notebook, time and beginning mileage at the start of a shift and same at the end. Write down any notes, number of trips etc... At the end of the month, add all miles up for monthly totals.


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## WTF-uber (Feb 1, 2015)

Uberdawg said:


> I just note in a small notebook, time and beginning mileage at the start of a shift and same at the end. Write down any notes, number of trips etc... At the end of the month, add all miles up for monthly totals.


Thank you - how much did your "dead miles" account for in your total miles, if you don't mind me asking?


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## Choochie (Jan 4, 2015)

I use Mile IQ, an app that tracks all your miles. I believe it was under $50 and I can categorize all my trips at any time. It actually reminds you. It's the easiest way ever.


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## Uberdawg (Oct 23, 2014)

WTF-uber said:


> Thank you - how much did your "dead miles" account for in your total miles, if you don't mind me asking?


My dead miles are about 1.25 to 1. For every 100 revenue miles I have 125 dead miles. That may be higher than some people but this is a small market that is spread out I have very few single digit fares but that usually means a lot of miles with no pax. I am going to look up choochies app also. I like the notebook because I make other notes I may want to remember.


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## blt4dtuff (Feb 5, 2015)

So if you just leave the app on, your miles are deductible? For instance, I took a fair sort of out of the way on Friday night, but on the way back to the higher populated area, left the app on. In other words, I pretty much leave it on the entire time I'm out driving. If I'm reading this correctly, 'Dead Miles' are only those in which your app is offline and you are headed back to an area in which you hope to get a fair. Is this assumption correct?


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## IndyDriver (Nov 6, 2014)

Any time you aren't getting paid it's a dead mile. That includes all time driving with app online between pings, as well as miles driven to reposition with app off for strategic purposes. Basically from the mile you leave your driveway until the mile you return is all deductible unless you conduct personal business in between.


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## SajadDC (Jan 5, 2015)

The best part is that for 2015 you can deduct 57.5 cents, yay!


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