As an Uber Eats driver you’re an independent contractor, so what Uber Eats drivers can claim on their taxes is essentially every ordinary and necessary cost of running the delivery work: vehicle expenses, phone and data, delivery gear, Uber’s service and booking fees, tolls and parking, health insurance premiums if you buy your own, and up to 20% of your net profit through the qualified business income deduction. All of it goes on Schedule C, which flows into your Form 1040.1Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss from Business (Sole Proprietorship)
Every dollar you deduct on Schedule C reduces two taxes at once: your regular income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare) that independent contractors owe on their net profit.2Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) That’s why claiming everything you’re entitled to matters more than for a W-2 worker.
Vehicle Costs
Driving is the biggest write-off for almost every delivery driver, and the IRS gives you two ways to calculate it. You should run the numbers both ways your first year and pick whichever produces a larger deduction.
Standard Mileage Rate
For 2026, the IRS standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per business mile.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile That single rate covers gas, insurance, depreciation, and wear. Multiply your business miles by 72.5 cents and that’s your deduction. Fifteen thousand business miles works out to $10,875. If you use this method, you can’t also deduct individual operating costs like oil changes, tires, or insurance premiums for the same year.4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car
This method works well for drivers with a reliable, paid-off car and modest operating costs.
Actual Expenses
The alternative is to track every dollar you spend on the car and deduct the business-use percentage. Qualifying costs include gas, oil, tires, repairs, insurance, registration fees, and depreciation.4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car If you drove 20,000 total miles and 12,000 were for deliveries, your business-use percentage is 60% and you deduct 60% of each expense. Actual expenses tend to favor drivers with newer cars depreciating quickly or high repair bills, but the bookkeeping is heavier: you need receipts for everything and a full record of miles driven.
Which Miles Count
The drive from your home to your first pickup is commuting, and commuting miles are not deductible.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Same for the drive home after your last delivery. Everything in between, while you’re logged in and working, counts. Miles between deliveries, to restaurants, and to drop-off points are all deductible business miles.
Your log needs the date, miles driven, destination, and business purpose for each trip, plus odometer readings at the start and end of the year. Mileage tracking apps handle most of this in the background, and they’re worth using. Reconstructing a year of trips from memory won’t survive an audit.
Tolls and parking fees paid while working are deductible on top of the standard mileage rate.4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car Traffic tickets and parking fines are not. Federal law bars deducting any amount paid to a government for a legal violation, even one that happened mid-delivery.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 162 – Trade or Business Expenses
Phone and Data
You can’t run the app without a phone and a connection, so both are deductible at your business-use percentage. If roughly 60% of your phone’s use is for delivery work, you can deduct 60% of the monthly plan and 60% of what you paid for the device. The percentage needs a reasonable basis. Data usage during your delivery hours is a solid one; a round number pulled out of the air is not.
Accessories used on shift qualify too: dashboard mounts, car chargers, portable battery packs. Deduct only the business-use share of each.
Delivery Gear and Supplies
Materials and supplies used in the business are deductible in the year you use them.7Internal Revenue Service. Deducting Business Supply Expenses Insulated hot bags, drink carriers, and space blankets all count. For bike or scooter couriers, helmets, locks, tire tubes, and maintenance on your delivery vehicle qualify.
Most gear falls under the IRS de minimis safe harbor, which lets you immediately expense tangible items costing $2,500 or less per item rather than depreciating them.8Internal Revenue Service. Tangible Property Final Regulations A $40 insulated bag obviously qualifies, and so does a new phone or a replacement bicycle at the business-use share.
Uber’s Service and Booking Fees
Uber’s fees come out of your pay before the money reaches your bank account, but the 1099-K you receive reports the gross amount customers paid, not your net.9Internal Revenue Service. What to Do with Form 1099-K Those fees are deductible business expenses. Claim them on Schedule C or you’ll end up paying tax on money you never received.10Uber. Tax Season Guide for Uber Drivers and Couriers Your Uber annual tax summary breaks down exactly what was deducted from your gross earnings.
Health Insurance Premiums
If you buy your own health insurance and aren’t eligible for coverage through a spouse’s employer, you can deduct 100% of your premiums for medical, dental, and vision coverage for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 7206 The deduction goes on Schedule 1 of Form 1040, so it reduces your adjusted gross income directly. You need a net profit on Schedule C to take it, and the deduction can’t exceed that profit.
There’s a month-by-month limit. You can’t claim the deduction for any month you were eligible to join an employer-subsidized plan, even if you turned it down.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 7206 If you held a W-2 job with benefits for part of the year, you can only deduct premiums for the months you weren’t eligible for that plan.
The Qualified Business Income Deduction
Section 199A lets sole proprietors, including gig workers, deduct up to 20% of qualified business income. For a driver with $40,000 in net profit, that’s potentially an $8,000 deduction against income tax. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made this deduction permanent starting in 2026.
For 2026, single filers with taxable income below $201,750 and joint filers below $403,500 can generally take the full 20%. Above those thresholds, phase-out rules apply. There’s also a new minimum deduction for 2026: if you have at least $1,000 of qualified business income from a business you actively run, you can claim a $400 minimum deduction even when 20% of your QBI would come out lower. The QBI deduction lives on your personal return and reduces income tax only, not self-employment tax.
Smaller Deductions Drivers Often Miss
- Tax preparation fees paid to a professional or for paid software used to file your Schedule C.
- Car washes, at your business-use percentage.
- Roadside assistance memberships like AAA, at the business-use share.
- Local business license fees, where a city or county requires gig workers to hold one.
A note on home offices: most delivery drivers won’t qualify. The IRS requires a space used exclusively and regularly for administrative work like bookkeeping and scheduling.12Internal Revenue Service. How Small Business Owners Can Deduct Their Home Office from Their Taxes “Exclusively” is the hard part; a kitchen table where you also eat dinner doesn’t count. If you do have a qualifying space, the simplified method allows $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, for a $1,500 maximum.13Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction
How to Claim These Deductions
All of your delivery income and expenses go on Schedule C. Self-employment tax is calculated on Schedule SE, which applies the 15.3% rate to 92.35% of your net earnings rather than the full amount.14Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Schedule SE (Form 1040) You then deduct half of your self-employment tax when calculating your adjusted gross income; it doesn’t reduce the SE tax itself but does lower your income tax.2Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)
Because no one withholds tax from your Uber pay, you’re expected to pay quarterly. If you expect to owe $1,000 or more in federal tax for the year, the IRS requires estimated payments, and skipping them triggers an underpayment penalty.15Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Taxes For 2026 the due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, 2027, paid using Form 1040-ES or IRS Direct Pay.16Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Form 1040-ES
Keep a mileage log with the date, miles, destination, and business purpose for each trip, receipts for every business purchase, and your monthly phone bills. Digital copies in the cloud are fine. Uber will send you a 1099-K if your gross payments exceed the IRS reporting threshold,17Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your Form 1099-K and possibly a 1099-NEC for referral bonuses or promotional incentives.18Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation Even if no 1099 arrives, you still have to report the income; the IRS gets copies of the same forms, and mismatches are the easiest thing for the agency to catch. Your Uber annual tax summary is the cleanest starting point for reconciling income against every deduction before you file.