What Miles Can Delivery Drivers Deduct?

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Are you a delivery driver and wonder what miles delivery drivers can claim? Read to learn.

Whether you’re a delivery driver for DoorDash, UberEats, Lyft, Instacart, Postmates, or another side gig, you’re probably wondering what mileage you can deduct from your taxes. Keep reading to find out what mileage delivery drivers can deduct.

The first thing you need to do if you’re a delivery driver is track your mileage. The best way to do this is by using a mileage tracker app such as Falcon Expenses. To learn more about the Falcon app scroll to the bottom of this article. Or, simply download Falcon on the app store now, it’s free.

Delivery drivers are in a unique situation because they often use the same car for work as for personal use. This means that there is extra pressure to really understand what miles driven are delivery driver tax deduction opportunities. For example, perhaps you’re a delivery driver for Doordash or UberEats. And you want to know if mileage driven to run errands to get maintenance done on your delivery vehicle is tax-deductible. Continue reading to find out.

What’s the difference between commuting and business miles?

The IRS defines a commute as transportation between your home and your regular place of work. Further, miles driven during a work commute using your personal car are not tax-deductible. Therefore, commute mileage is not considered business miles.  

Check out this thorough article about what is considered commuting expenses, How Does the IRS Define Commuting?

What miles can delivery drivers deduct?

It is very simple. Delivery drivers can deduct from their taxes miles driven specifically and necessarily for business purposes. You cannot deduct miles driven for personal use. 

What is considered reasonable and necessary mileage for write offs?

To claim miles as tax-deductible, the primary purpose of the trip must be to benefit your business. Therefore, deduct the miles from errands for car maintenance on the car you use for your DoorDash or Uber Eats side gigs. Deduct these miles even if you stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things on the way back. As long as the primary purpose of your trip was for reasonable and necessary business mileage.     

How do I track tax deductible delivery driver mileage?

The best way to track delivery drivers’ tax-deductible mileage is with a mileage expense tracking app. A mileage expense tracking app will track your tax-deductible mileage for you, automatically. Many of these apps do this by using GPS to track your miles for you as you drive. Therefore, your mileage is being logged in the background as you drive. Some automatically track your drives are you stop and go. After, you sort through the drives that were personal and which ones were for business. Others allow you to start and stop the GPS mileage tracker as you want. 

In addition, you may want some of the other features many apps offer in addition to mileage expense tracking. Such as, keeping track of cash expenses, snapping pictures of, and storing receipts. It is all up to you and what your needs are.

We recommend checking out Falcon Expenses. Falcon Expenses is a top-rated mileage expense tracking and expense tracking app. The average Falcon customer saves over $6,600 a year in taxes. Learn more about Falcon by scrolling to the bottom of this article where there’s a list of resources. Or download the app and try it out for yourself. It is free to download. Download Falcon, Now. 

Can delivery drivers deduct miles driven for errands?

Yes! Claim it as a business mileage expense if the errand is reasonable and necessary for your delivery driver’s business.

Are there other tax deductible business drives?

Check out this article for a more detailed overview of other types of business mileage that is tax-deductible, What Business Mileage is Tax Deductible?

Yes! This article contains all the delivery driver-specific tax-deductible mileage. Yet, potentially some of you do other work outside of delivery driving that requires you to use your personal car. For example, perhaps you use your car to drive to a train station. Or to drive to the airport for your job or business and you were wondering if this mileage is tax-deductible. We recommend checking out the article linked above if this is the case. Most delivery drivers aren’t traveling to the airport to fly somewhere by plane as part of their job duties. On the other hand, other businesses and professionals might have this requirement and are curious about the mileage tax deduction ramifications. There are a few other such circumstances where it comes into question whether or not the business mileage is tax-deductible. Thus, we recommend that you check out this article.

What Else Can I Deduct if I’m Self Employed?

There are many self-employment tax deductions; we recommend that you check out this article, A Definitive List of Self Employment Tax Deductions. Also, if you’re self-employed don’t forget to fill out an IRS Schedule C form. Further, if you plan on hiring employees, we recommend learning about what an EIN number is.

About Falcon Expenses

Falcon Expenses is a top-rated expense and mileage tracker app for self-employed and small businesses. Falcon is great for business travels and remote workers.

On average, Falcon customers record $6,600, in annual tax deductions. Get started today.

The longer you wait, the more tax deductions you miss.

Automatically track mileage expenses and expenses, keep an odometer log, receipt vault and log billable hours. Quickly organize expenses by time period, project, or client. Easily create expense reports and mileage logs with your expense data for email to anyone in PDF or spreadsheet formats, all from your phone. Falcon’s expense report template is IRS compliant. Use for keeping track of tax deductions, mileage logs, time logs, reimbursements, taxes, record keeping, and more. Falcon Expenses is great for self-employed, freelancers, realtors, delivery drivers, couriers, business travelers, truckers, and more.