Why Is the 1099-K Amount Larger Than What I Was Paid?

At the end of the day, you are running your own “driving services” business. Uber is just one service that helps you find passengers and facilitate the payment. This second part means they fall under the rules for a 1099-K, or “Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions.”

The rules for a 1099-K require Uber to report all of the payments they processed on your behalf, which is the total amount the passenger paid. That means it includes things like safe-ride fees and Uber’s commission, which are costs that Uber took out before paying you.

You’ll include the fees as both an earning and an equal offsetting expense (i.e. fees as income minus fees as expense equals $0 net), meaning you aren’t taxed on the fees, and they won’t affect your tax bracket. These earnings and expenses are recorded on the Schedule C.

Will I Need to File a Separate Schedule C or SE for the 1099-K and 1099-MISC?

You’ll only need to file one Schedule C since these both fall under your “driving services business.” If you have other contract work that constitutes a different type of business (e.g. Airbnb would be “hosting services”), you’ll need to fill out a separate Schedule C for that.

What Mileage Can I Write Off?

Uber’s breakdown in their dashboard gives you the total miles you drove while driving passengers. However, you can also write off mileage from:

• Driving around waiting for ride requests
• Driving to a passenger after receiving a ride request

Do I Need to Send the 1099s to the IRS With My Taxes?

Nope! They are just for your records. Uber already sent a copy to them.

Any More Tax Tips?

While filing taxes as an Uber driver partner may be more complicated than filing as a traditional worker, being organized and understanding the process can help simplify things. Using tax software like QuickBooks Self-Employed can help you keep your books in order throughout the year. With tax software, you can separate personal and business expenses, automate your deductions, calculate estimated taxes and more, so when April comes around, you’ll be prepared to file your year-end taxes and avoid any IRS penalties.