Gig Worker Tax Deductions (Uber, DoorDash & More)

Gig work is paid work arranged through an app or platform. Drivers and couriers deduct the costs of earning that income: standard mileage or actual vehicle costs, platform commissions, work-use share of phone and data, insulated bags, and supplies. Income arrives on Form 1099-K or 1099-NEC and flows through Schedule C. Track trips with date, destination, and purpose.

The deductions themselves are simple once the reporting side is clear, so start there.

How gig income gets reported in 2026 (thresholds changed)

The reporting rules changed mid-cycle, so thresholds you may have read about last year are out of date. Two different forms, two different thresholds, and a repeal in between. Here is where reporting stands for 2026:

• Form 1099-K: payment platforms issue it for third-party transactions at $20,000 and 200 transactions. The lower phase-down thresholds that had been scheduled were repealed.
• Form 1099-NEC: covers other platform payments. Payers are now required to issue it at $2,000 or more for tax years beginning after 2025, up from the old $600 trigger, with inflation adjustments starting in 2027.
• Smaller platforms may send no form at all.

Your gig income is taxable even if the platform never sent a form. A form is a report, not what creates the tax: the tax follows the income, and the income sits in your app records either way. What a form reports and what you earned can differ: a 1099-K reports gross transactions, and neither form knows about your mileage or the platform's cut. Your Schedule C is what sorts gross into profit.

Why the forms still matter: the IRS matches them against returns. Income a platform reported that yours does not show leads to correspondence. Report everything, forms or no forms, and the two sides stay aligned. If a form disagrees with your payout records, work from your records and raise it with the platform. Publication 1099 and the IRS 1099-K FAQs carry the official wording. Whether the platform is right to treat you as a contractor is a separate question. 1099 vs. W-2 explains the difference.

Mileage: the big one

For most drivers, mileage is the largest deduction on the return, and the one the records either prove or sink. The 2026 standard mileage rate for business driving splits mid-year:

• 72.5 cents per mile from January 1 through June 30
• 76 cents per mile from July 1 through December 31

The 2026 standard mileage rate rose from 72.5 to 76 cents per mile on July 1. The change is published on the IRS standard mileage page.

Standard mileage or actual costs: you pick one method per vehicle. Mileage usually wins for drivers because it needs no depreciation schedule and no shoebox of receipts, just a log of date, destination, purpose, and miles. Actual costs are the other door: fuel, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration, lease or depreciation, each times the business share of the miles. For a car driven almost entirely for the platforms, actual costs can win. For most drivers the arithmetic favors the standard rate, and the paperwork agrees. One exclusion trips up new drivers: commuting to a starting point does not count as business mileage, and neither do personal errands mixed into the same trip. The clean way through a mixed day is to note where business driving started and stopped, and count those miles. Each mile takes the rate in effect on the day you drove it, which is why the log matters more in 2026 than in most years.

Whether you drive in Southlake, Dallas, or anywhere else in Texas, the rate is the same. What varies is the quality of the log, and the log is what holds up.

Platform fees, equipment, phone

Gross payouts are not your income. What the platform keeps, what the job consumes, and what the phone costs all come off before profit:

• Platform commissions and service fees reduce your gross platform income before it ever becomes Schedule C profit
• Insulated delivery bags, phone mounts, car chargers
• The work-use share of your phone and data plan

The platform's cut is the deduction most drivers miss, because the money never appears in your account. It appears on the platform's payment summary instead. Each platform posts an annual summary in the driver dashboard. Download every one before filing, including from apps you stopped driving for mid-year, and reconcile what the apps paid you against what they reported.

Bags, mounts, and chargers count at full price when bought for deliveries. They are small deductions, but a year of driving accumulates them, and small unreceipted items are exactly the ones that never get claimed.

What drivers can't deduct

• Commuting to a starting point, including the drive home at the end of a shift
• Regular everyday clothing, including logo shirts the platform sends you
• Meals between deliveries
• Traffic tickets and fines

The clothing rule turns on the same test the IRS uses everywhere: if you could wear it to the grocery store, it is personal, and that includes the logo shirts platforms hand out. Fines and tickets stay nondeductible even when the violation happened mid-delivery. The meals rule surprises people most: eating on the road is a personal cost even on a double shift, the same as an office worker's lunch.

Quarterly taxes on gig income

Net gig profit usually triggers quarterly estimated payments, because nothing is withheld when a platform pays you. The trigger is profit, not payouts: a driver with a salaried job and a small delivery side may owe little or nothing extra, while a full-time driver with healthy margins generally pays every quarter. The due dates, safe harbors, and payment mechanics are in our quarterly estimated taxes guide. If your platform income swings during the year, tax planning sessions are the place to work out the amounts.

For the full general deduction list beyond driving: self-employed tax deductions.

Driving for two or three platforms makes the paperwork stack up fast. Book a session with Okeyma and get the mileage logs, platform summaries, and payout records reconciled before the filing deadline.

This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.