First time doing taxes after starting a side gig - what can I actually write off?

Taxes

I started doing food delivery (DoorDash/UberEats) this year on top of my regular W2 job. Made about k from it. I know I have to pay taxes on this but everyone says you can write off a ton of stuff. Like my phone bill? Car insurance? What actually counts as a deduction and how do I prove it? Do I need to keep every single receipt?

Matthew Moore

3 Answers

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Welcome to self-employment taxes! The good news is you can deduct a lot. The bad news is you owe self-employment tax (15.3%) on top of income tax.

Legit deductions for delivery drivers:

Mileage - this is the big one. Track every mile with an app like Stride or Everlance. 2024 rate is 67 cents/mile. If you drove 10,000 miles for deliveries thats ,700 in deductions.

Phone bill - percentage used for work (probably 50%)

Hot bags, phone mounts, car charger - 100%

Portion of car insurance - based on work use percentage

You CANNOT deduct:

Regular car maintenance (thats included in mileage rate)

Traffic tickets

Your regular clothes

Record keeping:
You dont need receipts for everything under , but do keep:

Mileage log (app does this automatically)

Screenshots of your earnings

Receipts for supplies

I use TurboTax Self Employed, walks you through everything.

Christopher Miller

The mileage deduction is HUGE for delivery drivers. I drove 15k miles for DoorDash and deducted over k. Brought my taxable income way down. Use an app like Stride to track automatically.

Megan Clark

Dont forget quarterly estimated taxes though. If you owe more than k at the end of the year youll get hit with penalties. Set aside 25-30% of your gig income for taxes as you earn it.