# I'm VERY ConFuSed ABOUT taxes! Please help!



## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

So....basically, can you report a LOSS?

And Not pay taxes or pay super cheap?

Like, this is what i'm thinking...

TAX DEDUCTIONS:

(i know you can't deduct tolls, having said that)

-miles
-gas ??
-phone / internet 
-car washes/details/etc
-oil changes - matienence
-seat covers
-dashcam
-other??? (puke buckets, blankets, stuff to clean car?)

SO *if* those can all be deducted, the next question would be...

How much of my TAXABLE income am I paying? Someone from the Bay Area / California that has actually done this, I would appreciate insight.

Stae/Federal/((local??))

Im so confused. Is it a Lot or are we talking like a few hundred bucks on, SAY, 30k a year?
100k?

Can your DEDUCTIONS be greater than your earning?

Can they OWE you money? *hahaha*

HELP PLEASE!

I want to do this the good ol' Amneri(kkantAXyouToDEatH!)can way.'


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## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

Get TurboTax. And I don't recommend itemizing. Take the standard deduction which I believe is $0.56 per mile. That takes into account all of your expenses. The exception is if you drive a vehicle that is expensive to operate (e.g. poor gas mileage, lots of repairs, high maintenance costs).

And yes, the IRS will consider you to have taken a loss if your mileage x $0.56 doesn't equal your fares. For example, if you drove 30,000 miles but only made $10,000, you'd be at a loss because 30,000 x $0.56 = $16,800. That would be a $6,800 loss. However, you'd have to have driven with the worst tactics and least efficiency possible to do that badly.

My first year, the IRS considered me to have taken a loss of $900. But the subsequent years my deduction from mileage was less than the fares, so I had to pay _some_ taxes. But it was only on the amount minus the deduction which wasn't a whole ton.


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

losiglow said:


> Get TurboTax. And I don't recommend itemizing. Take the standard deduction which I believe is $0.56 per mile. That takes into account all of your expenses. The exception is if you drive a vehicle that is expensive to operate (e.g. poor gas mileage, lots of repairs, high maintenance costs).
> 
> And yes, the IRS will consider you to have taken a loss if your mileage x $0.56 doesn't equal your fares. For example, if you drove 30,000 miles but only made $10,000, you'd be at a loss because 30,000 x $0.56 = $16,800. That would be a $6,800 loss. However, you'd have to have driven with the worst tactics and least efficiency possible to do that badly.
> 
> My first year, the IRS considered me to have taken a loss of $900. But the subsequent years my deduction from mileage was less than the fares, so I had to pay _some_ taxes. But it was only on the amount minus the deduction which wasn't a whole ton.


OK I KIND OF get it. So, for example:

The rate in SF is I believe 68c per mile. Then 60c per mile in Sacramento ....but is it based on TOTAL earnings then, not what they pay US per mile? OK so basically, for Math sake, say my TOTAL take was like 20k, and deducting that PER MILE does it say in the aps what your total milage is or do you have to take care of that? Some EXAMPLE numbers would be awesome, if you can please help.

Thanks.

*like I wanna know if I need a few HUNDRED or a few THOUSAND come tax time?

Lets say FOR MATH sake, you make

20k
and drove I dunno, 15k miles. What would it be APPROXIMATELY?

Any help is great.

Federal, state AND LOCAL?

(I usually dodge my returns for my MAIN job, so....)


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## KK2929 (Feb 9, 2017)

My advice -- taxes for Independent Contractors is confusing as you know. Keep all your receipts that are connected to driving ride share. Gas, car service or repairs, car insurance, car wash , all equipment used for ride share, everything.
Go to a tax specialist , like H.R. Block. ( Make certain you get an experienced person with experience in ride share filing ) Let them do your taxes. 
If you had a hard time doing taxes as an employee, doing them as a ride share driver will be VERY difficult. 
For offices like H.R. Block, I read reviews and when I see a name keep appearing with positive reviews, I call the office and talk to the person. I ask what is their experience doing RS tax filings. This is a new area for tax preparers. Many do not understand the best way to file and the tax changes of 2018, did not help.


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

KK2929 said:


> My advice -- taxes for Independent Contractors is confusing as you know. Keep all your receipts that are connected to driving ride share. Gas, car service or repairs, car insurance, car wash , all equipment used for ride share, everything.
> Go to a tax specialist , like H.R. Block. ( Make certain you get an experienced person with experience in ride share filing ) Let them do your taxes.
> If you had a hard time doing taxes as an employee, doing them as a ride share driver will be VERY difficult.
> For offices like H.R. Block, I read reviews and when I see a name keep appearing with positive reviews, I call the office and talk to the person. I ask what is their experience doing RS tax filings. This is a new area for tax preparers. Many do not understand the best way to file and the tax changes of 2018, did not help.


I wish there was just a way to do it myself. And I am keeping all receipts. So far, anyways. I am a smart person, it can't be THAT hard. I dunno. Can someone give me an example of MONEY MADE and the taxes PAID?


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## I will crack Lyft hacks (Aug 5, 2019)

Greenfox said:


> So....basically, can you report a LOSS?
> 
> And Not pay taxes or pay super cheap?
> 
> ...


What is confusing? Your driving people for no net profit. Basically you have a hobby. Deduct cell phone, gas, all miles to and from and while cruising for pax. Deduct .58$ per mile. You'll end up without income or a few box. Taxes are for people who work for money, not us.


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

I will crack Lyft hacks said:


> What is confusing? Your driving people for no net profit. Basically you have a hobby. Deduct cell phone, gas, all miles to and from and while cruising for pax. Deduct .58$ per mile. You'll end up without income or a few box. Taxes are for people who work for money, not us.


so BASICALLY I'm paying NO taxes? BASICALlY? I was FREAKING OUT with a few thousand dollars hitting my account thinking the government was going to take it, all! 0.o


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## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

Well, if you're in California, chances are you'll pay some taxes either way. I'm not be facetious. We're at 4.95% in Utah and you're at 12.3% in Cali. One more reason why I moved away.

Don't concern yourself with the fares you're earning. Income tax has nothing to do with the per mile or per minute rate. The $0.56 I'm referring to is the IRS writeoff meaning the amount that you don't have to pay taxes on.



> 20k
> and drove I dunno, 15k miles. What would it be APPROXIMATELY?


Well, according to the deduction, that would be 15,000 x $0.56 = $8,400.
$20,000 - $8,400 = $11,600 that is tax liable.

As far as how much you'd have to pay - that depends on other deductions (non-Uber) and your total wages if you have other jobs. If all you made was $20K in a year, then I don't think you'd have to pay much of anything. That's below poverty level. However, if you made $100K, then you'd definitely have to pay something. However, if you made $100K and had a mortgage, 4 kids, and were married, you would pay much less since those provide tax deductions and child credits.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Perfect! Getting your tax advice off the driver forum should prepare you well for an IRS audit! Perhaps see a tax professional that actually knows like @UberTaxPro?


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

losiglow said:


> Well, if you're in California, chances are you'll pay some taxes either way. I'm not be facetious. We're at 4.95% in Utah and you're at 12.3% in Cali. One more reason why I moved away.
> 
> Don't concern yourself with the fares you're earning. Income tax has nothing to do with the per mile or per minute rate. The $0.56 I'm referring to is the IRS writeoff meaning the amount that you don't have to pay taxes on.
> 
> ...


My OTHER Job with the sick and dying pays me about 27,000 a year PLUS whatever I'm (not) making with uber / lyft! And yes I will take advice from this forum!

That's GROSS too which they ALREADY TAX.


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## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

I still say TurboTax. I use it every year. And my taxes are kind of a headache. Day job, side job, rideshare, married, kids, mortgage, charity, etc. Of course, the standard deduction makes that a bit easier now. But still, TurboTax does a great job at all that so I'm sure it will do just fine for you.


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## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

Greenfox said:


> My OTHER Job with the sick and dying pays me about 27,000 a year PLUS whatever I'm (not) making with uber / lyft! And yes I will take advice from this forum!
> 
> That's GROSS too which they ALREADY TAX.


A lot of people here complain about money all the time. Some others drive the car and 
make a decent living. about 1/3 of the money I would have had to pay in taxes was deductable. The more you make the more you'll owe. Put about 20% away for repairs and taxes you'll be fine.


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## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

You make $27K in SF? Dang. You must be living under a bridge somewhere.


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

losiglow said:


> You make $27K in SF? Dang. You must be living under a bridge somewhere.


No, i get free housing, 100.00 a month. Thanks, (company that f***** me and will Not be NAMED)! lol they were good for something. Napa is NICE this time of the year.

BESIDS I'm sly like a fox.


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## Willwilldriveyouinsane (Jun 25, 2019)

Who said you can't deduct tolls? Tolls are 100% deductible...


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

Willwilldriveyouinsane said:


> Who said you can't deduct tolls? Tolls are 100% deductible...


Amazing! I love it.


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## islanddriver (Apr 6, 2018)

The IRS deduction for mileage this year is 58 cents. Plus cell phone tolls seat covers etc.


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## I will crack Lyft hacks (Aug 5, 2019)

Greenfox said:


> so BASICALLY I'm paying NO taxes? BASICALlY? I was FREAKING OUT with a few thousand dollars hitting my account thinking the government was going to take it, all! 0.o


You'll be airtight. Did you keep any recipes? I don't think you should worry heavily. Most of us e the flexibility and tax advantage of this job as the only benefit. Maybe put 1,000 aside. You can make a payment plan if needed. But with the rates and the IRS tax deduction for mileage .58 you should be almost at no profit for tax porpoise. Claim the most mileage you think you can, deduct cell phone and car insurance. Keep deducting more miles under you have almost no tax burden. ?



Greenfox said:


> No, i get free housing, 100.00 a month. Thanks, (company that f***** me and will Not be NAMED)! lol they were good for something. Napa is NICE this time of the year.
> 
> BESIDS I'm sly like a fox.


I'm in Sonoma county, My two bedroom is apartment is 2,400$. I don't know if I should move to Arizona or just ram my car into Uber HQ and call it quits. Lol.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

losiglow said:


> I Of course, the standard deduction makes that a bit easier now.


Quite an expensive elimination of schedule A. Yeah it's easier but at a very high price!!!



losiglow said:


> I still say TurboTax. I use it every year. And my taxes are kind of a headache. Day job, side job, rideshare, married, kids, mortgage, charity, etc. Of course, the standard deduction makes that a bit easier now. But still, TurboTax does a great job at all that so I'm sure it will do just fine for you.


I also use TurboTax but for someone who has no idea how to do their taxes let alone schedule C it's probably a good idea to go to someone who has actually done rideshare taxes before (not some wannabe at HR Block). Once they learn and understand they can easily transition to doing it themselves.


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## Launchpad McQuack (Jan 8, 2019)

I will crack Lyft hacks said:


> Deduct cell phone, *gas, all miles* to and from and while cruising for pax. *Deduct .58$ per mile.*


This is what you have to watch out for when you seek tax advice on an Internet forum. You can't deduct gas _and_ mileage. It is one or the other. You can either deduct mileage at the standard mileage rate or you can track your actual expenses of operating your car and deduct those. Gas falls under actual expenses, so you can't deduct it if you are deducting mileage. Of course, the people that tell you to do this will speak as if they know what they're talking about.

If you deduct actual expenses, you still need to track mileage because you have to prorate actual expenses based on the percentage of business use of the vehicle. You need the mileage records in order to determine the percentage of business use. So lets say that you drove 30,000 miles for rideshare and you drove 10,000 miles for personal reasons. If you deduct actual expenses, you can only deduct 75% of your gas costs because that is your percentage business use of the vehicle {30/(30+10)}.


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

Greenfox said:


> So....basically, can you report a LOSS?
> 
> And Not pay taxes or pay super cheap?
> 
> ...


Why are yu making it so hard?
Are you afraid of the IRS?
You don't make enough money from Uber to PAY taxes.
And the IRS doesn't care about you.
Feggit about it.


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

UberBastid said:


> Why are yu making it so hard?
> Are you afraid of the IRS?
> You don't make enough money from Uber to PAY taxes.
> And the IRS doesn't care about you.
> Feggit about it.


Thank you. Love ya bro. And yeah Im scared of them, they already got me once.


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## lyft_rat (Jul 1, 2019)

It is really simple. Take the total miles you drove your car (whether Uber or not). This mileage is on your service receipts, annual inspections, etc. (I keep a service log where I make an entry everytime something is done to the car.) If you don't know the exact number, make an educated guess. Just make sure you can reasonably prove that the car was driven that far. Deduct miles times $0.58 or whatever the current number is. You will be close to tax-free or at least pay very little tax. If you want to be more conservative, you can deduct a small number of miles for personal use.


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## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

lyft_rat said:


> It is really simple. Take the total miles you drove your car (whether Uber or not). This mileage is on your service receipts, annual inspections, etc. (I keep a service log where I make an entry everytime something is done to the car.) If you don't know the exact number, make an educated guess. Just make sure you can reasonable prove that the car was driven that far. Deduct miles times $0.58 or whatever the current number is. You will be close to tax-free or at least pay very little tax. If you want to be more conservative, you can deduct a small number of miles for personal use.


Thank you guys.

Puts my mind at ease.

Thought I was gonna owe like hundreds


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Willwilldriveyouinsane said:


> Who said you can't deduct tolls? Tolls are 100% deductible...


Tolls aren't deductible if they are reimbursed, so be careful.


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## TPAMB (Feb 13, 2019)

Please contact a licensed tax professional. Unlike a 1040EZ, this is not for the do it yourself accountant. Make sure whomever you chose that they are familiar with the tax ins and of ride-share.

Good luck!


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> Tolls aren't deductible if they are reimbursed, so be careful.


QUIT FRETTING ABOUT TAXES

You don't make enough to even PAY any taxes.
Youl gotta actually HAVE income to be able to deduct from it.

Till you get to $80k per year income from driving, don't fret about it.
Your president has reduced your taxes to almost nothing at our income level - and he is talking about reducing again.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Tell that to the guys getting audited, like @Mainah.


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> Tell that to the guys getting audited, like @Mainah.


If the only 'income' is from Uber ... it will be a real quick audit.
I don't know Mainah's story.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

https://uberpeople.net/threads/when-did-uber-start-putting-all-miles-on-tax-doc.352596/


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## TCar (Aug 4, 2019)

Question: Uber reimburses me for tolls i pay while customer is in car. I still pay them. All other tolls I pay are directly because of U/L. I maybe pay $10 a year in tolls before U/L. 

Does anyone have prior experience on how they deducted tolls as a tax write off in past?


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

Last time I got 'audited' I just asked them, "IF I have NO documentation for the question you have - how much would I owe you?"
The answer was about $75. 
It wasn't worth my time.
"Send me a bill."

Done.

You guys can fret about pennies all you want - I can't.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

TCar said:


> Question: Uber reimburses me for tolls i pay while customer is in car. I still pay them. All other tolls I pay are directly because of U/L. I maybe pay $10 a year in tolls before U/L.
> 
> Does anyone have prior experience on how they deducted tolls as a tax write off in past?


Tolls that are reimbursed by Uber/Lyft are not deductible on your tax return. Tolls not reimbursed are 100% deductible. Same for all expenses actually.


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

UberTaxPro said:


> Tolls that are reimbursed by Uber/Lyft are not deductible on your tax return. Tolls not reimbursed are 100% deductible. Same for all expenses actually.


Reimbursed tolls aren't _taxable_ either.

An alternative accounting method is to write up all revenues paid as _revenue_ and all expenses as _deductions_. Less changing numbers from one category to another when you get paid for tolls days later.

The math works out exactly the same but when you get a toll payment days later you aren't adding to your paid toll ledger while subtracting from your unpaid tolls ledger, or visa versa when a paxhole gets a toll add on reversed. It also reduces the number of lines per day on your accounting ledger and simplifies things.

I've always found it much easier to write up all the tolls as _deductions_ and all monies paid to me as _revenue_.

$95 revenue
$5 toll reimbursements
VS

$100 revenue
$5 tolls

both equal $95 in taxable revenue.

If you get audited you simply break out your toll records as a write off, while reporting all the money that hits your bank account as revenue.

It's only "double dipping" if you don't report the toll payments as revenue.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> Reimbursed tolls aren't _taxable_ either.
> 
> An alternative accounting method is to write up all revenues paid as _revenue_ and all expenses as _deductions_. Less changing numbers from one category to another when you get paid for tolls days later.
> 
> ...


Yes you're correct about it coming out the same on the bottom line. However if one cares about following 
*Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) *what you're suggesting is incorrect from an accounting viewpoint. Yes, you'd have no problem at an audit with your method. However, you would be misstating Revenues and Expenses and that bugs some people!


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## Pogo99 (Sep 23, 2019)

By IRS rules one can have loss in 3 out of 5 years. State tax laws are different. I drive in a state that has no state income tax


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

UberTaxPro said:


> Yes you're correct about it coming out the same on the bottom line. However if one cares about following
> *Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) *what you're suggesting is incorrect from an accounting viewpoint. Yes, you'd have no problem at an audit with your method. However, you would be misstating Revenues and Expenses and that bugs some people!


Screw gaap,

Accrual accounting is a pain in my furry behind.

*for a taxi driver it's almost irrelevant, as i get paid same day for the fares i give* (even credit/account fares)

I also don't need to factor in expenses in the future, I don't use my own car, all expenses are done and final, i could never drive a cab ever again and there would be no new expenses. The taxi rental is flat rate, completely controlled without anything unexpected hitting ever.

I have no investors, i'm not publicly traded, i could give a FF about accounting the correct way.

All i care about is that i'm turning a profit *cough* screw uber *Cough* and that the IRS won't be on me.

I also don't have proper accounting software, just an open office math spreadsheet on google docs and a shoe box full of receipts that are ziplock bagged by week.

Truth of the matter,

I actually _*have*_ an accurate set of books, which is miles ahead of 99% of taxi/uber drivers.


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