Every driver hits this question the first tax season. Here's the short version.
The IRS lets you deduct vehicle costs one of two ways:
Standard mileage. You multiply your business miles by the IRS standard mileage rate for the year (the rate changes annually, so check the current one on irs.gov). That single number covers gas, maintenance, insurance, depreciation, all of it. Simple, and for most gig drivers in an average car, it comes out higher than actual expenses.
Actual expenses. You add up what the car really cost you for the year (gas, insurance, repairs, registration, depreciation, lease payments) and deduct the business-use percentage of that total. Works better for expensive or high-maintenance vehicles.
The catch that surprises people: you need a mileage log under both methods. Standard mileage needs business miles to multiply. Actual expenses needs business miles to work out your business-use percentage. No log, no defensible deduction.
What counts as business miles: driving while you're working, including the miles between one delivery and the next pickup, and the miles to a pickup once you've accepted it. The gray area is the drive from home to wherever you start working, which is often treated as commuting. Ask a tax pro if that's a big chunk of your miles.
What the apps report versus what you drove: the platform's mileage summary usually only counts miles with a passenger or an order in the car. Your real business miles are higher. Track them yourself.
Practical habit: log your start and end odometer for each shift, note which platforms you worked, and record expenses the same day. That's exactly what our Gig Driver tracker is set up for, but a notebook works too. The habit matters more than the tool.
General information, not tax advice for your situation.
Standard mileage vs. actual expenses: how gig drivers pick, and why you have to track miles either way
OfficialBlackVortex Digital · 2 days ago · 0 replies