Deductions by trade
What a delivery, courier or rideshare driver can deduct.
For drivers working through platforms or on their own account in the United States, paid on a 1099-NEC or a 1099-K rather than a W-2. Everything here assumes you are self-employed: the platform is your customer, not your employer, and nothing is withheld from what it pays you.
Tax year 2026
The app's mileage figure is the smallest number you are entitled to.
The annual summary counts the miles on an accepted trip. It does not count the miles you drive to get into position, the miles between a drop-off and the next request, or anything at all on a second app. Those are business miles too, and the only thing that captures them is your own tracker, running from the moment you go online to the moment you go offline. Over a full-time year the gap is commonly ten thousand miles or more. In 2026 there are also two rates — 72.5 cents a mile through 30 June and 76 cents from 1 July — so the log has to be split at the end of June as well.
The gap is repositioning, waiting and second-app miles. At 2026 rates it is around $8,000 of deduction. An illustration, not your numbers.
Mileage, and the log that proves it
One record is worth more than every receipt on this page put together, and it is the one that cannot be rebuilt in April.
- A mileage log with three totals: all miles driven, business miles, and personal milesStart it when you go online and stop it when you go offline. A tracker running in the background costs a few dollars a month and is the difference between a deduction and an argument.Tax tip. The standard rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents a mile from 1 January to 30 June and 76 cents from 1 July to 31 December. Your log needs a subtotal at 30 June. One rate across the whole year understates the second half by three and a half cents on every mile.
- The platform's own annual summary, kept as a cross-check rather than as the answerUseful to show you were working on those days. It is a floor under your number, not the number.
- Actual costs, if you use those instead of the rate: fuel, insurance, repairs, tyres, registration, lease payments, depreciationThis means every receipt for the year, and the mileage split on top, because actual costs still have to be apportioned between business and personal use.Tax tip. The first year decides more than it looks. Start with the standard rate and you may switch later; claim depreciation or a lease in year one and that car is locked out of the rate for good.
- A car rented or leased through the platform — Hertz through Uber, Lyft Express Drive and the likeThe rental payments are an actual cost. You cannot claim the standard mileage rate on a car you are renting week to week and also deduct the rent.
- Parking, tolls, congestion charges and airport queue or access feesDeductible on top of the mileage rate — the rate does not include them.
- The business share of car loan interest and of state personal property tax on the carThese two costs may be deductible in addition to the standard mileage rate. Registration and license fees are already included in that rate.
What the platforms report, and what they leave out
Two forms, two thresholds, and a gross figure that is not what landed in your bank.
- Every 1099-NEC and 1099-K the platforms issue, and a record of what you earned whether or not a form arrivesFor 2026 a 1099-NEC is generally issued at $2,000, up from $600. For third-party payment networks, the federal 1099-K threshold generally returns to more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions; payment-card transactions follow different rules. A missing form does not make the income disappear.Tax tip. Below the thresholds the platform still knows, and so does the bank. Report what you earned. An unreported year is the cheapest way to turn a small business into an examination.
- The platform's commission, service fees and booking feesA 1099-K usually reports the gross fare the passenger paid, including the cut the platform kept. Report the gross and deduct the fees. Reporting the net and deducting nothing produces a figure that does not match the form, and that mismatch is what gets picked up.
- Instant-pay and early-cashout fees, and any per-transfer charge
- Referral bonuses, quest and promotion payments, and surge or peak payAll of it is business income.
- Tips, tracked on a line of their ownTips remain taxable income. From 2025 through 2028, a deduction of up to $25,000 may also be available for qualified tips, whether or not you itemize deductions.Tax tip. The deduction only covers voluntary tips — not service charges or mandatory fees — it cannot exceed the net profit of the business that earned them, and it phases out above $150,000 of modified AGI ($300,000 filing jointly). It reduces income tax only: Social Security and Medicare still apply to every dollar. Separate tips from base pay in your own records now, because a lump sum from the app cannot be split later.
- Which apps you drove for, if you drove for severalDelivery and rideshare done from the same car are normally one business on one Schedule C. Two schedules for the same work split the mileage and the expenses in a way that is hard to explain.
Gear in the car
- Phone mount, chargers, cables and a power bank
- Dash cam, and the card or subscription it needs
- Insulated bags, coolers, catering racks and drink carriers
- Amenities for passengers: bottled water, mints, tissues, charging cables, an umbrella
- Floor mats, seat covers, a trunk organiser and cargo liner
- A hand truck, straps, blankets and moving pads for courier and parcel work
- Cleaning supplies, wipes and air fresheners for the carDeductible as supplies. A commercial car wash is a different matter — see the list at the foot of the page.
Phone, data and subscriptions
- Phone and data plan, at the business-use shareA defensible percentage, applied consistently, beats a round number nobody can explain.
- A second phone used only for drivingKept only for the apps, it is fully deductible — and it removes the percentage argument entirely.Tax tip. A cheap second handset and a prepaid line usually cost less over a year than the tax on the share of your personal bill you cannot defend.
- Mileage tracker and expense app subscriptions
- Roadside assistance and breakdown cover, at the business share
- Navigation, traffic or parking-finder subscriptions used for the work
Insurance, and the gap nobody mentions
- A rideshare or delivery endorsement on your personal policy, or a commercial policy — at the business shareTax tip. This is not a tax point and it matters more than one. A standard personal auto policy excludes cover while the app is on. A claim refused for that reason is not a tax problem; it is the end of the business, and often of the car.
- Commercial auto premiums, where the work needs them
- Occupational accident or income protection cover taken for the driving
Running it like a business
- A separate bank account and card for the drivingNot a deduction in itself. It is what makes every other line on this page provable in an afternoon rather than a fortnight.
- Bookkeeping, tax preparation and accounting fees
- Bank charges on the business account, and payment-processing fees on your own invoices
- A city vehicle-for-hire license, airport permit or business license where required
- Background checks, vehicle inspections and platform onboarding fees you pay yourself
- Advertising, if you take private work: cards, a website, local listings
Your own taxes and benefits
Nothing is withheld from a platform payout. Everything in this section is yours to arrange.
- Estimated tax payments made during the year, with dates and amountsTax tip. Self-employment tax is 15.3 percent of the profit before any income tax at all. Set aside a share of every payout from the first week; a driver who starts saving in March is already a quarter behind.
- Half of the self-employment taxDeducted on the return automatically — but it is a reason the profit figure has to be right.
- Health insurance premiums you pay for yourself and your family
- Contributions to a SEP IRA or solo 401(k)Tax tip. The one deduction you can still create after the year has ended: a SEP can be funded up to the filing deadline, extensions included. Everything else on this page had to happen by 31 December.
- The qualified business income deductionTwenty percent of the profit, now permanent, and from 2026 a minimum deduction of $400 for anyone with at least $1,000 of income from a business they actively run.
- Startup costs, if this was the first yearUp to $5,000 may be deductible in the first year, with the remainder amortized. This may include the inspection, background check and initial equipment.
What you cannot deduct
The list nobody publishes, and the reason most letters from the IRS get written. None of these become deductible because you were working that day.
- The drive from home to the area where you go online, and the drive home at the endCommuting, however far it is.
- Any mile driven with the apps off — errands, the school run, the drive to the gym
- Both the standard rate and actual costs on the same car in the same yearOne method per car per year. Picking the larger of the two after the fact is not a method.
- The car payment itselfThe principal is not an expense. Interest and depreciation are, in their own ways.
- Car washes and detailing, on top of the standard rateThe rate already covers the running costs of the car. Under actual costs they count; alongside the rate they do not.
- Traffic tickets, parking fines, toll violations and impound fees
- Your own coffee, lunch and snacks while drivingA meal needs a business guest and a business reason. Eating between deliveries is not one.
- Everyday clothes, however much driving wears them out
- The full phone bill, when the phone is also your personal one
- A gym membership, back support or massage to keep you fit for the seat
- The hours you spent waiting for a requestTime is not a deductible cost. Only what you spent is.
- Tips you did not receive but hoped for, and a passenger's cancelled fare
Before you file
Two records decide this page: a mileage log that ran from the moment you went online, and a tip column kept apart from base pay. The platform summaries are where the year starts, not where it ends — every number they leave out is a number you are entitled to and nobody else will find.
Open the business checklistNot sure which of these apply to you?
A list is a starting point, not an answer. Bring your own numbers to a free intro call and we will work out which of these belong on your return and what is missing from your records.
This page is general information for the 2026 tax year, not advice about your business. A deduction has to be ordinary and necessary for your own trade, and your records have to support it. Amounts and rules are current as of the date of publication and can change.