Time for Rideshare and Delivery Drivers to Prepare 2016 Taxes
Its unfortunately that magical time of year to start thinking about your taxes. Any income rideshare and delivery drivers make must be listed on your income taxes. This is the best time to start thinking about it ahead of the tax season as there are some things you can do this month to lower your taxes and make it easier to file come tax time.
Things to start doing now:
- Collecting receipts (for the expenses deduction if you choose to deduct expenses, rather than mileage)
- Rideshare drivers – GPS, dashcams
- Delivery drivers – insulated bags, foldable carts
- Finalizing your mileage logs (for the mileage deduction)
- Calculating how much you earned from Uber and Lyft
- Uber and Lyft will provide a 1099 but this is to double check their numbers and to give yourself an idea of how much taxes you need to pay come March (estimated taxes) and April (2015 tax bill, if you owe
- Calculating how much you earned from delivery services (Postmates, Doordash, Caviar, Amazon Flex, Instacart, Grubhub)
- Each of the services will be providing a 1099 next year.
- Make any last minute purchases to count as an business expenses, such as new tools, GPS, dashcams, car accessories.
The earlier you start your taxes, the earlier you will be filing your taxes and getting your refund! Many tax professionals are recommend that you file your taxes early since there was a large spike in fraudulent tax returns last year by scammers to steal refunds from other people. Don’t let that happen to you!
If you are still unsure about your self employment income taxes due to driving on Uber, Lyft, or as a delivery driver, check out the articles I have written about taxes as they pertain to Uber and Lyft drivers (they are also applicable to delivery drivers as well):
It goes in depth about how to file your taxes, what you can and cannot deduct, and so much more!
If you still need help on tax related matters, check out our tax course below. It is at a discounted price before the tax season, but we anticipate raising the prices in January and again in February so get in now before the sale ends!
As another reminder, there is an estimated taxes payment BEFORE April 15:
- January 17, 2017 (4th estimated tax payment for 2016)
- March 15th, 2017 (most likely you will need to pay this (1/4 of your total tax bill from Uber and Lyft) due to tax laws)
This is why it is critical that you get a sense of how much you owe NOW so you will be ready for the estimated tax payments, the most critical being in March 2017, the first estimated tax payments for most drivers who started in 2016.
Have more questions about Uber or Lyft? Head on over to our Rideshare Driver Training Course! Driver Promotions- New Uber Drivers will get up to a $800 bonus after signing up: Sign up for Uber.
- New Lyft Drivers will get up to $800 if you sign up here using this link.
