What driving for the app
actually costs you in taxes.

How it works

The gross number on your weekly summary isn't your income.

Platforms show drivers a gross earnings figure that includes money that never really belonged to the driver in the first place — the platform's own commission is already baked in, and none of the real costs of driving (gas, wear and tear, insurance) are subtracted anywhere in that number. The IRS lets you deduct those costs, mainly through the standard mileage rate, but only if you actually track and claim them — the tax bill on unclaimed deductions is the same as if you never earned the deduction at all.

Gross earnings, platform fees, and mileage — kept separate on purpose

This calculator asks for gross 1099 earnings and platform fees as two different numbers, matching how Schedule C actually separates them: gross earnings on one line, commissions and fees as their own deduction, and car/truck expenses (mileage) as a third, independent line. Blending gross-vs-net figures is an easy way to accidentally double-count or silently drop the fees deduction, depending on which number happens to get typed into which box.

The 2026 mid-year mileage rate change

The IRS set the 2026 standard business mileage rate at 72.5¢ per mile, then raised it to 76¢ per mile effective July 1, 2026 — a genuinely rare mid-year adjustment driven by rising fuel costs. A driver who logged more miles in the second half of the year gets a real deduction bump from that increase; calculating the whole year at the January rate understates the true deduction. This calculator defaults to splitting your total miles evenly across both halves, but if you track your mileage by period, entering your actual H1/H2 split captures the real number.

A worked example

A single driver with $45,000 in gross 1099 earnings, $3,000 in tips, $9,000 in platform fees, 15,000 business miles (split evenly across both halves of the year), and $1,200 in other expenses: the mileage deduction alone is $11,137.50 (7,500 miles × 72.5¢ plus 7,500 miles × 76¢). Total deductions come to $21,337.50, leaving a net self-employment profit of $26,662.50. Self-employment tax on that profit is $3,767.29, and with the standard deduction and half of SE tax deducted above the line, federal income tax comes to $867.89 — a combined current-year tax of $4,635.18, or roughly $1,042.92 per quarter under the 90%-of-current-year safe harbor test.

The 1099-K threshold isn't the point

A lot of drivers assume that if they don't get a 1099-K, they don't owe tax on that income — that's wrong, and it's the actual source of confusion, not the specific dollar threshold. The 1099-K reporting threshold reverted to $20,000 in payments and more than 200 transactions for 2026, meaning many modest-income drivers won't receive one at all. The form is just a reporting mechanism between the platform and the IRS — every dollar you earn driving is taxable regardless of whether any 1099 shows up in your mailbox.

Disclaimer

This calculator provides an educational estimate based on 2026 IRS figures and does not replace a licensed CPA or tax attorney. It assumes standard-deduction, roughly-even income across the year, and a single driving platform's worth of recordkeeping; it does not account for state taxes, vehicle depreciation under the actual-expense method (an alternative to the standard mileage rate this tool doesn't model), or multiple vehicles.