# Rider Fee Disappeared on App.



## machighlander (Jun 17, 2016)

I noticed yesterday that the $1.90 rider fee no longer appears on my estimated payout calculations. I had a minimum fare of $3.10 on my earnings page, so I know that the rider is still being charged the $1.90. Has anyone else noticed this? This fee seems like a way for them to just get a higher percentage of the fare. On a $5 minimum ride they get $2.68 or 54%. I did a calculation a couple weeks ago and with the rider fee, Uber was averaging over 35% of the total charge to the rider. So, I'm wondering if they plan on increasing this fee but don't want us to see it and thus earn a higher percentage of the overall fare.


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## dirtylee (Sep 2, 2015)

You must be new to uber & their methods.


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## Horsebm (Jul 21, 2015)

*Uber magic, "First you see it, than you don't".
Kinda like, "bait-and-switch".
Call it what you will.*


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## Ubersucksgas (May 31, 2016)

How is all this legal??


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

I noticed last night as well. Does not directly affect us since they had the customer pay us and then then immediately removed it anyway, but there may have been legal reasons. It may now be considered directly going to Uber, whereas before it went to us, and then Uber.

Not sure.


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## prdelnik666 (Sep 17, 2014)

Its been scrubbed from all the statements. Maybe easier to cheat you out of trips lol. 
Funny they removed it since they always added that fee to your tax records.


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## UberIsAllFubared (Feb 24, 2016)

Just because it doesn't show on our app, doesn't mean uber isn't still charging the passenger on theirs.


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

UberIsAllFubared said:


> Just because it doesn't show on our app, doesn't mean uber isn't still charging the passenger on theirs.


Good God. Pay attention, man. Uber doesn't charge the passengers these fees.


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

Ubersucksgas said:


> How is all this legal??


It's legal b/c Uber has the money.


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## Drive777 (Jan 23, 2015)

prdelnik666 said:


> Its been scrubbed from all the statements. Maybe easier to cheat you out of trips lol.
> Funny they removed it since they always added that fee to your tax records.


You're right, I looked at my payment statement on the web site and it's not there.

We no longer know exactly how much is being charged to the rider, even though Uber reports that gross amount on our 1099-K. They can't pretend to be a "payment processor" for tax purposes and then not tell us the total amount that was paid. Oh wait, yes they can apparently. We're dealing with Uber here.


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

galileo5 said:


> Good God. Pay attention, man. Uber doesn't charge the passengers these fees.


How does Uber not charge the passenger these fees?


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Novus Caesar said:


> I noticed last night as well. Does not directly affect us since they had the customer pay us and then then immediately removed it anyway, but there may have been legal reasons. It may now be considered directly going to Uber, whereas before it went to us, and then Uber.
> 
> Not sure.


I think they're changing up how they do the 1099 every year just to confuse the IRS about THEIR taxes.


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## 14gIV (Dec 12, 2015)

galileo5 said:


> Good God. Pay attention, man. Uber doesn't charge the passengers these fees.


good god man, i was charged that stupid 1.70 fee to go like 2miles
so stupid for a stupid 1mile trip i still has to pay this??
its like a $tip so when i dont have cash I'm not worried (on short trips)


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

Novus Caesar said:


> How does Uber not charge the passenger these fees?


The drivers are charged those fees.


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

galileo5 said:


> The drivers are charged those fees.


Everytime I was charged the fee it was reimbursed.


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

Novus Caesar said:


> Everytime I was charged the fee it was reimbursed.


You are not reimbursed. Reread the first post in this thread explaining how much is taken and how much we get. When you get your first tax forms from Uber next year, you'll see that these fees are tax deductible.


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

galileo5 said:


> You are not reimbursed. Reread the first post in this thread explaining how much is taken and how much we get. When you get your first tax forms from Uber next year, you'll see that these fees are tax deductible.


We are talking about two different things here. I have been working since last year so I have gotten my tax forms already once.

There is the Uber fee, which is 20-25%. That is not given back, but that is not what we are discussing. We are talking about the rider safety fee or booking fee as they call it now. That is no longer showing on the forms. That was charged and credited for me at least at the same time up until several days ago when Uber no longer even shows it.


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

Novus Caesar said:


> We are talking about two different things here. I have been working since last year so I have gotten my tax forms already once.
> 
> There is the Uber fee, which is 20-25%. That is not given back, but that is not what we are discussing. We are talking about the rider safety fee or booking fee as they call it now. That is no longer showing on the forms. That was charged and credited for me at least at the same time up until several days ago when Uber no longer even shows it.


This thread was never about the commission. Never did I reference the commission. I don't know why you went there.

You say you started last year driving for Uber, but how could you be so ignorant as to not realize that it's the drivers that pay the booking and the split-fare fees? Do you not pay attention to the tax forms Uber sends? Why would those fees be tax deductible if the passengers pay them?


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

galileo5 said:


> You say you started last year driving for Uber, but how could you be so ignorant as to not realize that it's the drivers that pay the booking and the split-fare fees? Do you not pay attention to the tax forms Uber sends? Why would those fees be tax deductible if the passengers pay them?


That is the whole point of this thread. In the past, the booking/safety fee went through the driver and then was deducted automatically by Uber in addition to the fare. Now it is not. Why? I have no idea. But at least where I am, the passenger was charged the fee extra, it was added to my pay, and then it was automatically deducted from me by Uber at the same time. Thus it was income I was making but I was then paying it to Uber, which is tax deductible. My whole point is that this may have tax reasons that they are no longer processing the booking fee through us.


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

Novus Caesar said:


> That is the whole point of this thread. In the past, the booking/safety fee went through the driver and then was deducted automatically by Uber in addition to the fare. Now it is not. Why? I have no idea. But at least where I am, the passenger was charged the fee extra, it was added to my pay, and then it was automatically deducted from me by Uber at the same time. Thus it was income I was making but I was then paying it to Uber, which is tax deductible. My whole point is that this may have tax reasons that they are no longer processing the booking fee through us.


You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. The booking and split-fare fees are paid by the driver, not by the passenger. The OP explains that in his post. Lyft does not do it this way. The only change Uber made in the pay statement was to make it less obvious that they're screwing the drivers.


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## Novus Caesar (Dec 15, 2015)

galileo5 said:


> You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. The booking and split-fare fees are paid by the driver, not by the passenger. The OP explains that in his post. Lyft does not do it this way. The only change Uber made in the pay statement was to make it less obvious that they're screwing the drivers.


Galileo, I have no idea about how it is where you are. Maybe Uber does it differently. I uploaded a statement that was identical to mine before they removed it. For my area, at least, with UberX, the passenger was charged the booking fee, not me, and it was then deducted. Look at the statement I uploaded.

Here is an example. Notice the Rider Fee, which is what they took off, is deducted after they charge it to the customer. It is not taken from the Fare like the Uber Fee is:

Payments

Fare: $265.61
Surge: $45.53
Tolls: $5.00
Booking Fee (Formerly Safe Rider Fee): $28.50

Deductions

Booking Fee (Formerly Safe Rider Fee): $28.50
Uber Fee: $62.84

Earnings

Total: $256.30


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## Drive777 (Jan 23, 2015)

Novus Caesar said:


> Payments
> 
> Fare: $265.61_ (your income from rider)_
> Surge: $45.53_ (your income from rider)_
> ...


Uber does it this way to make it look like you, the driver are charging the passenger 100% of the gross amount they paid. Uber then takes its cut (booking fee plus uber commission/fee) from the total amount you collected from the rider.

This is why it's supposed to appear as a charge then a deduction on your statement. You don't get any money from the booking fee but in Uber's eyes, you still charged it to the rider and then Uber took it from your pay per the driver agreement. It is then up to you to deduct those fees on your taxes, otherwise you owe taxes on income that never hit your bank account.

I doubt this has changed even though Uber removed the booking fee from our statements. Unless Uber changed how it reports gross earnings on Form 1099-K (really stupid to do in the middle of the tax year), it's a good idea to keep track of the fee by comparing the gross fare shown on the "Summary & Trips" page with the net fare shown on each trip.


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