Uber mileage deduction and miles for other gig apps
The Uber mileage deduction, like the one for any gig app, is your business miles times the IRS rate: 72.5 cents a mile through June 30, 2026, and 76 cents from July 1. The hard part is knowing which miles count. The miles your app reports and the miles you can deduct are not always the same number, so keep your own log.
On this page (9 sections)
This is not tax advice. The rules come from IRS Publication 463 and the Schedule C instructions. The short version, with an example, is in the mileage deduction guide. This page goes leg by leg and compares your miles with what Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Spark, and Amazon Flex report.
Which gig miles count: trip by trip
If you drive for an app as an independent contractor, you run your own business. IRS Publication 463 has an example for someone with no regular office and no office at home: the first business stop of the day is treated as your office. That makes the first and last legs of a shift a commute.
| Leg | Deductible? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Home to the first pickup of the shift, even if you accepted the request at home | No | Commuting: the first business stop counts as your office in the IRS example |
| First pickup to its drop-off (passenger or order on board) | Yes | The work itself |
| Each later leg: drop-off to the next pickup, and that trip on board | Yes | Travel from one customer to another |
| Driving with the app on, waiting for a request | Unclear | Publication 463 doesn’t address it directly. Log it on separate lines. |
| Last drop-off to home | No | Commuting, under the IRS example |
| Personal errands with the app off | No | Personal use |
Source: IRS Publication 463, chapter 4, “Examples of deductible transportation,” Example 3. If your home is your principal place of business, the trip from home to another work location can count instead: see commuting miles.
Gig driving burns a lot of gas between paydays. To plan for it, put your weekly miles and MPG into the gas budget calculator and see the cost per week, month, and year.
Your miles vs the app’s miles
The app counts what it can see: the time you are logged in. Your deduction follows the tax rules. The two can differ in both directions:
- The app may count miles you can’t deduct. Uber’s “online miles” include driving while you wait for a trip. If you drive from home with the app on, the miles to your first pickup are in the app’s total, but under the IRS example they are commuting.
- The app may miss miles you can deduct. A report that counts only miles with an order on board leaves out the drive between drop-off and the next pickup.
- The app knows only its own trips. If you drive for two apps, neither one sees the other.
So use the app’s number to check your log, not as your log. The IRS asks for your own record made at or near the time: the date, miles, destination, and business purpose (Publication 463, chapter 5). Our free mileage log has those columns.
What each gig app reports
Here is what each company’s own help pages say about miles, checked in November 2026. Reports change, so look in your app’s tax section too.
| App | Does it report miles? | What the number covers |
|---|---|---|
| Uber | Yes, in the yearly tax summary | “Online miles”: driving while waiting for a trip (including to a busier area), driving to the pickup, and on-trip miles |
| Lyft | Yes, in the annual summary | Online miles. Lyft says the summary is not an official tax document. |
| DoorDash | An estimate, by email by January 31 | On-delivery miles. Details: DoorDash mileage. |
| Grubhub | No | Grubhub’s driver help says it doesn’t provide a mileage total |
| Instacart, Walmart Spark, Amazon Flex | Not stated | We found no official help page that describes a mileage report. Keep your own log. |
Sources: Uber and Lyft driver tax help pages, Grubhub driver support, DoorDash Dasher tax help (links below).
Does Spark track mileage? We found no Spark Driver page that promises a mileage report for taxes. The same goes for Instacart and Amazon Flex. If your app does show miles, write them next to your own total each week.
Two apps at once
Many drivers run two apps at the same time. A mile driven once is deducted once, no matter how many apps were on. Don’t add up the online miles from two app summaries for the same hours. Your own log, by odometer, avoids that problem.
1099-K and 1099-NEC: what the forms show
Gig apps report your pay to the IRS on two forms. Neither one shows your miles.
| Form | Who sends it | Federal threshold |
|---|---|---|
| 1099-K | A payment company or app that settles payments (for example, Uber for ride and delivery earnings) | Over $20,000 and over 200 transactions in the year. Some states set a lower threshold. |
| 1099-NEC | A company that pays you as a contractor (for example, DoorDash for Dasher pay, or Uber for referral and promotion pay) | $2,000 or more for payments made after 2025 (it was $600) |
Sources: IRS Form 1099-K FAQs; IRS Publication 1099 (2026); Uber, What tax documents do I get. Some app help pages still say $600 for the 1099-NEC.
Two points people often miss:
- You report all of your income, even if a form never arrives. The IRS says this on its Gig Economy Tax Center.
- The amount on a 1099-K can be larger than what reached your bank account. Read your app’s tax summary: it explains how its totals were figured and which fees it took. Ask a tax professional how to report them.
Where mileage goes: Schedule C
- Line 1: your gross receipts from all gig apps.
- Line 9 (car and truck expenses): business miles times the IRS rate, plus parking and tolls. In 2026, split the miles at July 1: miles through June 30 at $0.725, and from July 1 at $0.76.
- Part IV (information on your vehicle): the date you started using the car for business, and your business, commuting, and other miles for the year. It also asks whether you have written evidence.
Example: 4,000 business miles from January to June 2026 and 5,000 from July to December. 4,000 × $0.725 = $2,900.00, plus 5,000 × $0.76 = $3,800.00, comes to $6,700.00 on line 9, plus parking and tolls.
If your car costs a lot to run, the actual expense method may give more. You must use the standard rate in the first year you use a car you own for business, or you can’t switch to it later for that car. Compare both in standard mileage vs actual expenses. With actual expenses, a fuel log keeps your gas costs in one place.
Self-employment tax and estimated payments
- Self-employment tax: 15.3% (Social Security and Medicare) of 92.35% of your net earnings, if your net earnings are $400 or more (Schedule SE). Mileage lowers your net earnings, so it lowers this tax too.
- Estimated tax: no one withholds tax from gig pay. The IRS due dates for quarterly payments are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15.
Every rate by date is on the IRS mileage rate page. What a log needs to show is in how to track mileage for taxes.
FAQ
Does Uber track mileage for taxes?
Uber shows “online miles” in your yearly tax summary: miles while you wait for a trip, on the way to a pickup, and during trips. That number can include miles you can’t deduct, such as the drive from home to your first pickup with the app on. Use it to check your own log.
Does Spark track mileage?
We found no Spark Driver help page that offers a mileage report for taxes, as of November 2026. Track your own miles by odometer for each shift.
Does Instacart track mileage?
We found no official Instacart page that describes a mileage report for shoppers. Your order history helps back up your log, but it isn’t one.
Can I deduct miles if my 1099-K is for less than I earned?
Yes. Your deduction depends on the business miles you drove and logged, not on what a form shows. Report all your income, including any not on a form, and deduct your business expenses on Schedule C.
Do I need a mileage log if Uber gives me a tax summary?
Yes. The summary is not an IRS form and not your record. The IRS asks for your own record made at or near the time of each trip.
Sources
- IRS, Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (chapter 4, Example 3; chapter 5, records) (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov
- IRS, Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), line 9 and Part IV (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov
- IRS, Form 1099-K FAQs: general information (thresholds) (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov
- IRS, Publication 1099 (2026), threshold for Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov
- IRS, Gig Economy Tax Center, and Manage taxes for your gig work (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov, irs.gov
- IRS, Self-employment tax (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov
- IRS, Standard mileage rates (Notice 2026-10, Announcement 2026-11): irs.gov
- Uber, Tax summary questions (online miles), and What tax documents do I get (checked November 12, 2026): help.uber.com, help.uber.com
- Lyft, Tax information for US drivers (annual summary) (checked November 12, 2026): help.lyft.com
- Grubhub, How can I get a total of my mileage from last year (checked November 12, 2026): driver-support.grubhub.com
- DoorDash, Common Dasher tax questions (checked November 12, 2026): help.doordash.com