GST Information for Uber Drivers

Keep records of your expenses

The best way to maximize your tax deductions and minimize tax is to keep good records. You can use whatever system works best for you, whether it’s software, a spreadsheet or a shoebox.

For fuel receipts, try keeping an envelope in your glovebox. You must collect all your fuel receipts, both business and private. Technically, for expenses under $82.50, you don’t need tax invoices and your bank statements are acceptable; tax invoices are only required for expenses over $82.50. However, we recommend keeping all your receipts anyway to make them easier to add up and make sure you don’t miss any deductions. You’ll also need to collect your receipts for insurance, registration, repairs, servicing, cleaning, tolls, mobile phone bills, rider amenities (water, mints, etc) and anything else that relates to your driving.

At the end of each quarter, (30 Sept, 31 Dec, 31 Mar, 30 June) bundle everything up, and start a new envelope/shoebox/ spreadsheet. This will make completing your BAS simple. Whether or not to keep a spreadsheet is a personal choice, it’s not essential. Some drivers prefer to keep ongoing spreadsheet records so they can analyze their profits, others are happy to sit down once per quarter with their bundle of receipts and a calculator. Whichever approach works for you is fine! 

For your income, there’s no need to keep records. Instead, you’ll be able to download reports showing your income from your online account. The same goes for the fees you pay for them. You’ll just download reports each quarter showing your income for your BAS and another report for your tax return at the end of the financial year. Note that the timing of expenses is important. GST credits are based on the date you pay the expense. This means that if you pay your registration or insurance yearly, you will claim the whole GST credit in the quarter you make the payment, and nothing in the other three quarters. Be sure to file your expenses in the correct quarter.

Keep a logbook

For GST purposes a logbook isn’t required. You can make a reasonable estimate of the percentage you use your car for business, based on your rideshare company’s online reports and data, car service records and other information. You can then claim this percentage of the GST back on all your vehicle expenses. End of year tax is a different story.

To claim a tax deduction for your car’s actual running costs, you must keep an ATO compliant logbook:

  • It must go for 12 continuous weeks. If you start driving less than 12 weeks before the end of the financial year you can continue the logbook into the next financial year as long as you start before 30 June.
  • You must record the date and the odometer reading at the start and end of the 12 weeks • For every rideshare session, you must record the date, and your beginning and ending odometer readings.
  • You can include your travel from home to your first passenger, from your last passenger back home, and the km in between passengers too. (This is different to the usual employee rules when you’re self-employed the journey to and from home is tax deductible too). This means you just need to record your odometer once when you leave home and once when you arrive home, no need to record individual trips.

You can buy an ATO compliant logbooks from Officeworks, or from most newsagents. Our favorite is the Zions Pocket Vehicle Logbook (look for the yellow cover). If you don’t keep a logbook, you cannot claim any of your car expenses on your tax return. Instead, you’ll be limited to using the cents per kilometer method. This gives you a maximum of 5,000kms x 66 cents per km, equalling a maximum deduction of $3,300. If you only drive occasionally, and you feel this covers your car expenses, then feel free to skip the hassle of a logbook and choose this method instead. But if you drive regularly, this deduction could be much less than your actual expenses and could leave you with a larger tax bill. A logbook is a pain, but it will ensure you’ll get the maximum deduction you’re entitled to.

Put Aside Part of Your Income to Save for Your Tax Bills

There are two types of tax you must save for and pay, GST and Income Tax.

Each time you get paid, you’ll need to put away a percentage of what you earn, so by the end of the quarter you’ll have enough money to pay your GST, and by the end of the year, you’ll also have enough to pay your income tax bill. We recommend setting up a savings account especially for your rideshare tax bills, preferably one that will earn you some interest along the way.

Here’s a rough guide to how much you should put aside:

GST

  • ​Put aside 8%-10% of your rideshare income received (i.e. the amount you receive into your bank account from your rideshare company after they deduct their fees).

Income Tax

  • If your Net Rideshare Profit plus any other taxable income will be less than $20,000 for the financial year, then you probably won’t have any tax to pay on your rideshare income received.
  • If your Net Rideshare Profit plus any other taxable income will be between $20,000 and $40,000, put aside 12%-15% of your rideshare income received.
  • If your Net Rideshare Profit plus any other taxable income will be between $40,000 and $80,000, put aside 18%-20% of your rideshare income received.
  • If your Net Rideshare Profit plus any other taxable income will be over $80,000, put aside at least 25% of your rideshare income received.

Note that these are very rough rules of thumb, based on the average figures of drivers we’ve worked with. They may not cover your whole tax bill, or they may turn out to be too much. Everyone drives different hours, has different cars and car running costs, and has different tax circumstances, and every company charges different fees, so please take these percentages as a guide only.