Understanding Uber Driver Tax Forms - Tax Summary for 2023, 1099-NEC, and 1099-K
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It's that time of the year again—when we Uber drivers sift through our earnings, miles, and expenses to figure out our taxable income. Let's be honest; it's really confusing. So, I wanted to share my documents and explain what the numbers mean for me.
Uber's Tax Summary
Uber's Tax Summary is a tool to help me file my taxes. It's not an actual tax form but has essential information nonetheless. At first, some numbers look way off, especially gross payments. Here's an explanation of each number:
3,080 completed trips
22,566 online miles - These are the miles that Uber recorded while I had my app on. However, these miles are not my actual miles tracked for my tax deduction.
$54,391.48 gross payments - This is how much passengers paid to Uber to ride in my car. I realize this is stupid, and I don't understand why the IRS needs me to report this number.
$22,034.08 expenses, fees, and taxes - These are expenses Uber paid on my behalf. I’ll need to use this number in addition to my expenses to properly account for my taxable income.
$32,357.40 net payout - This is the cash Uber paid me after the expenses they paid. The good news is that I tracked each weekly payment, and the $32K matches what I recorded.
Table 1 - Expenses, Fees, Tax and Reimbursement
$14,725.95 Uber service fee/other adjustments - I don't know what this is, but I assume much of it is commercial insurance. Additionally, I think this is where Uber reports their gross margin.
$4,389.19 in booking fees - These fees are most likely costs directly tied to the transaction, like credit card processing fees. But again, I don't really know.
$1,440.57 airport and city fees collected - These are taxes.
$1,443.47 sales tax and other taxes - And these are more taxes. What can I say, I live in New York.
$28.90 instant pay charges - I cashed out early a few times and not waiting for the free deposit the following week. I know… I should just wait.
$6.00 split fare fee - Who knows? It's 6 bucks, and I want to save time trying to figure it out.
$1.09 in other reimbursements of tolls, airport fees, and surcharges.
Table - 2 Additional Payments from Uber or Subsidiaries
This $10,571.22 includes my promotions, bonuses, quests, and tips. I assume they account for these transactions separately, if only because the transaction doesn't happen when the passenger orders the Uber. These are secondary follow-up transactions.
Table 3 shows your completed trips and online miles broken out by month.
1099-K and 1099-NEC IRS Tax Forms
Simply put, the 1099-K is the tax form to report my gross earnings from each Uber trip. The 1099-NEC reports my additional payments from bonuses, promotions, quests, and tips.
Filing Taxes for your Uber Driving
I’ll report the two incomes from the 1099-K and the 1099-NEC as my gross income from Uber.
Then, I'll report the itemized expenses from Table 1 of Uber's Tax Summary.
Finally, I’ll report your personal expenses you tracked throughout the year.
Here's my example:
+ $54,391.48 gross income
- $22,034.08 Uber's expenses (I’ll itemize these like they're listed on the Tax Summary)
- $20,290.59 mileage deduction (I recorded 30,978 miles x $0.655 the 2023 mileage rate)
= $12,066.81 is my taxable income
I’ll claim other deductions for rideshare that I won't go into here.
I'm not a tax preparer and am not telling you how to file your taxes. I recommend you hire Rideshare.tax to help you file your taxes.
I hope this helps explain these documents. Uber could be better at explaining things. And the IRS is worse. I wish things weren't this complicated, but that's a discussion for another day.
Be well and be safe. I'm cheering for you!
-- Levi
