[Seamus]

My question was really bifurcated in objective. Yes, my market doesn't seem to pay much, or I have not fully understood the system yet to increase my take. That being said, either Uber is not paying drivers enough, hence each trip is statistically a loss according to the allowable mileage deduction, or, the mileage deduction is too lenient and obfuscates the fact that drivers are indeed making a profit. I believe it is probably the latter, and in that case, as someone mentioned above, I will not get any SS credits because I will show a loss all the time, unless I under report my mileage; which I will probably have to do. Self-employment is a cess pool of rules and really is a stupid system when you think about it. I'm not going to argue that by driving my car as much as I could would not indeed trash my percieved income (maybe, maybe not... a laborious debate)... however, I will say that, almost any small buisness (self-employed person) can show a loss every year if they desire too, and essentially then not pay taxes. At the end of the year, because the mileage rate is so high, I will show a loss but still have pocketed a significant amount of money for which I will receive no SS benefits because of their broken system. Uber needs to make these smaller markets either actually profitable, or the government needs to do a more exact job figuring out a real rate that doesn't obfuscate the actual income self-employed workers bring home in order to opt out of supporting them through the SS pension system in the future. I can probably tweek my driving more and get my per hour up on less miles, but that mileage rate will still skew my earnings for SS.

-Your margin and taxable income are unrelated.
-understating deductions to overstate taxable income in order to pay the minimum into SS is a tax strategy I’ve never heard of before. Instead of worrying about that set aside some money from your tax savings to put into a Traditional or Roth IRA. This is what self employed people do. (Or any other investment that suits you.)

 

[Uberisfuninlv]

-Your margin and taxable income are unrelated.
-understating deductions to overstate taxable income in order to pay the minimum into SS is a tax strategy I’ve never heard of before. Instead of worrying about that set aside some money from your tax savings to put into a Traditional or Roth IRA. This is what self employed people do. (Or any other investment that suits you.)

OR invest that money into Uber stock

 

[uber4eva]

Recently started driving for Uber a month ago. I track everything, as I ran a small business years ago where I normally took the standard mileage deduction vs. actual expenses on the vehicle. Std. deduction usually worked out best and my mileage was normally not significant. So, I got a little deduction. But now, as an uber driver, unless I am doing my figuring wrong or not remembering my schedule C's correctly, if I take my mileage driven daily, multiply it times the new 2023 rate of 0.655, the vehicle NEVER shows a profit. EVER. How can that be even possible. Unless the big inner city drivers (I'm in a smaller metro area, pop. 479k) are making a ton more money, most Uber drivers are gauranteed to never have to pay taxes? The bad side is then after so many none profit years, you are done, not to mention, you get no credits for social security. For example, I drove 206 miles last night, made 131.65 and when you run (206*0.655), that comes out to $134.93 which is a -3.28 dollar loss. Almost every night is a loss, and I am including tips (I think you don't have to count those, which in that case, every night will be a loss.) At this rate I will drive about 48,000 miles and have a tax write off of $31,440 dollars. I will not make that much in earnings, yet, I am making money after gas and supplies, etc. The mileage rate is wrong, or are my figures?

Answers on wear and tear on the vehicle, etc., are erroneous in my opinion, as they make it look like you never turn a profit. You do. Will you tear up you car, maybe. But the fact remains, I have actual profit in hand and the mileage deduction erroneously shows otherwise. OR am I figuring wrong?

Run Lyft and Uber simultaneously, either on the same device or on two devices. Field trips and judge accordingly.

 

[68350]

Of course Uber drivers are underpaid, and of course Uber doesn't GAF, as long as they can keep signing up new ignorant drivers.

 

[Frontier Guy]

deleted

 

[Frontier Guy]

That being said, either Uber is not paying drivers enough, hence each trip is statistically a loss according to the allowable mileage deduction, or, the mileage deduction is too lenient and obfuscates the fact that drivers are indeed making a profit. I believe it is probably the latter, and in that case, as someone mentioned above

The correct answer is: BOTH are correct, however, if Uber and Lyft were paying drivers enough to, the deduction amount would not matter, as you would turn a profit. Also, the standard deduction was artificially raised last June to counter for the inflated gasoline prices and inflation in general. I've heard a couple of things that maybe the IRS might backpedal and drop the deduction back down. At the same time, for many of us who are also W2 workers, this side gig is simply a way to decrease our taxes, however, as I noticed now working my taxes, I'm not getting as big a perk as I wanted, as the 1099 NEC numbers (which is bonuses, streaks, etc.) is offsetting my regular numbers.

 

[Daisey77]

Going back to pre-up front pricing days . . .when you make 60 cents a mile and the government is giving you 62 or 65 cents a mile as a deduction, why would you or anyone think we could turn profit? It's mathematically impossible

 

[A.Losing.Game]

It's a losing game!

 

[Heisenburger]

the IRS might backpedal and drop the deduction back down.

That wouldn't be the least bit surprising because:

1. They've occasionally lowered it in years past: 1999, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2016. (Source)
2. The average cost of all vehicle fuels (unleaded, diesel, premium) is a sizable factor in their published figure. (Source)

 

[tohunt4me]

Recently started driving for Uber a month ago. I track everything, as I ran a small business years ago where I normally took the standard mileage deduction vs. actual expenses on the vehicle. Std. deduction usually worked out best and my mileage was normally not significant. So, I got a little deduction. But now, as an uber driver, unless I am doing my figuring wrong or not remembering my schedule C's correctly, if I take my mileage driven daily, multiply it times the new 2023 rate of 0.655, the vehicle NEVER shows a profit. EVER. How can that be even possible. Unless the big inner city drivers (I'm in a smaller metro area, pop. 479k) are making a ton more money, most Uber drivers are gauranteed to never have to pay taxes? The bad side is then after so many none profit years, you are done, not to mention, you get no credits for social security. For example, I drove 206 miles last night, made 131.65 and when you run (206*0.655), that comes out to $134.93 which is a -3.28 dollar loss. Almost every night is a loss, and I am including tips (I think you don't have to count those, which in that case, every night will be a loss.) At this rate I will drive about 48,000 miles and have a tax write off of $31,440 dollars. I will not make that much in earnings, yet, I am making money after gas and supplies, etc. The mileage rate is wrong, or are my figures?

Answers on wear and tear on the vehicle, etc., are erroneous in my opinion, as they make it look like you never turn a profit. You do. Will you tear up you car, maybe. But the fact remains, I have actual profit in hand and the mileage deduction erroneously shows otherwise. OR am I figuring wrong?

Ain't it Wonderful !
Pay no taxes.

GET A REBATE EVERY YEAR !

 

[New2This]

Going back to pre-up front pricing days . . .when you make 60 cents a mile and the government is giving you 62 or 65 cents a mile as a deduction, why would you or anyone think we could turn profit? It's mathematically impossible

Don't forget the pennies per minute. 🤦‍♂️

 

[JeanOcelot0]

Recently started driving for Uber a month ago. I track everything, as I ran a small business years ago where I normally took the standard mileage deduction vs. actual expenses on the vehicle. Std. deduction usually worked out best and my mileage was normally not significant. So, I got a little deduction. But now, as an uber driver, unless I am doing my figuring wrong or not remembering my schedule C's correctly, if I take my mileage driven daily, multiply it times the new 2023 rate of 0.655, the vehicle NEVER shows a profit. EVER. How can that be even possible. Unless the big inner city drivers (I'm in a smaller metro area, pop. 479k) are making a ton more money, most Uber drivers are gauranteed to never have to pay taxes? The bad side is then after so many none profit years, you are done, not to mention, you get no credits for social security. For example, I drove 206 miles last night, made 131.65 and when you run (206*0.655), that comes out to $134.93 which is a -3.28 dollar loss. Almost every night is a loss, and I am including tips (I think you don't have to count those, which in that case, every night will be a loss.) At this rate I will drive about 48,000 miles and have a tax write off of $31,440 dollars. I will not make that much in earnings, yet, I am making money after gas and supplies, etc. The mileage rate is wrong, or are my figures?

Answers on wear and tear on the vehicle, etc., are erroneous in my opinion, as they make it look like you never turn a profit. You do. Will you tear up you car, maybe. But the fact remains, I have actual profit in hand and the mileage deduction erroneously shows otherwise. OR am I figuring wrong?

The idea is that the ant's "actual expenses" are a lot less than the standard rate and/or the ant is actually working for nothing but needs the cash, in which case he is using his ride as an ATM. Of course, there is also the idea that the ant so prostrates himself to the pax that the pax throws in a nice tip for the ant being such a suck-up.

 

[Atom guy]

Here's an example illustrating why I don't owe a dime in federal and only a little on state.

• The Uber document screenshot is all the expenses that Uber knows about (except commercial insurance) -- those that occur independent of my vehicle.
• The other screenshot is my business mileage summary that Uber doesn't really know about.

Added together, that's a shit ton of deduction.

That's how mine comes out. After the mileage deduction and the Uber service fees, there nothing taxable left.

 

[tohunt4me]

That's how mine comes out. After the mileage deduction and the Uber service fees, there nothing taxable left.

Then deduct your cellphone,uniform laundering,home office space,& xm radio & get a nice REBATE !

 

[Daisey77]

Don't forget the pennies per minute. 🤦‍♂️

😂 don't forget about the company's Commission😉 so we're driving for less than what our vehicle cost to operate and then our freakin pennies have to go to the damn companies. 🤦‍♀️

 

[Stevie The magic Unicorn]

OR invest that money into Uber stock

I'd rather invest it in hookers.

Memories of partying with hookers will last a lifetime.

 

[Heisenburger]

uniform laundering

ah yes, my self-employment requires it!

home office space

That's what the IRS has been cracking down on in recent years returns where someone is claiming obscene amounts of deductions just because they pop open a frickin work tablet or notebook for several hours whilst on their sofa in their pajamas.

 

[oldfart]

It shouldnt cost you that much to drive your car unless it's too expensive of a car to be doing this with to begin with. I bought a 2019 Corolla w 40k miles on it for $16,500. Over 2 years I've written off 130k miles x .58= $75k that I'm not paying taxes on
(My income over those 2 years was over 200k)
This savings is roughly the price that I paid for the car. Just worry about how much money you are making and realize you might have to pay tax
and fix the car if/when it breaks.
Ps you pay into ss the same way driving for
uber as when you are self employed..

You pay SS the same way as if you were self employed. which is about 15% of tje bottom line of your schedule C. The thing is that our bottom line is zero

 

[oldfart]

Recently started driving for Uber a month ago. I track everything, as I ran a small business years ago where I normally took the standard mileage deduction vs. actual expenses on the vehicle. Std. deduction usually worked out best and my mileage was normally not significant. So, I got a little deduction. But now, as an uber driver, unless I am doing my figuring wrong or not remembering my schedule C's correctly, if I take my mileage driven daily, multiply it times the new 2023 rate of 0.655, the vehicle NEVER shows a profit. EVER. How can that be even possible. Unless the big inner city drivers (I'm in a smaller metro area, pop. 479k) are making a ton more money, most Uber drivers are gauranteed to never have to pay taxes? The bad side is then after so many none profit years, you are done, not to mention, you get no credits for social security. For example, I drove 206 miles last night, made 131.65 and when you run (206*0.655), that comes out to $134.93 which is a -3.28 dollar loss. Almost every night is a loss, and I am including tips (I think you don't have to count those, which in that case, every night will be a loss.) At this rate I will drive about 48,000 miles and have a tax write off of $31,440 dollars. I will not make that much in earnings, yet, I am making money after gas and supplies, etc. The mileage rate is wrong, or are my figures?

Answers on wear and tear on the vehicle, etc., are erroneous in my opinion, as they make it look like you never turn a profit. You do. Will you tear up you car, maybe. But the fact remains, I have actual profit in hand and the mileage deduction erroneously shows otherwise. OR am I figuring wrong?

I think you have it right. (If you are wrong, so am I)

in the 4.5 years from Jan 2018 to July 2022, I averaged over 70000 miles/yr. My actual expenses averaged $3500/yr plus gas ( 3500 gal per yr) Gas ranged between $2 and $5 per gal. I haven figured what my average gas expense per year was, but if I assume $3/gal I spent something like $10500/yr

So my total actual expenses were about $14000/y.......\
Using the standard mileage deduction . I deducted over $40000. Add in the home office deduction, office supplies, and other legit business expenses. I owed no income taxes or self employment tax

Now I drive a "new to me" hybrid that I financed, so my fuel cost is about half of what it was but I can still use the standard deduction and in addition I can deduct interest

 

[ginseng41]

I use the standard mileage deduction and I always show a profit both with the IRS and irl. I drive a 2010 Toyota Prius so that's why I show a real life profit. I think that should be self-explanatory to everybody. I drive in a small college town and average about 20% extra in tips. My trips are all extremely short, averaging under $10 per trip. I can take up to six trips in an hour when bars are letting out. For 2 to 3 hours every Thursday Friday and Saturday night there's always a surge and a $6 trip plus a $3 surge times 5, which is the average number of trips in those time periods, it's $45 an hour. Obviously that is gross, but the number of miles I can put on my car and that time period and no way shape or form comes even close to $45. I have had hours where I gross as much as 65 due to huge surges