Uber Eats Taxes: A Courier's Guide for 2026
Delivering for Uber Eats makes you self-employed, with no tax withheld from anything you earn. What you owe is based on profit — earnings minus mileage and expenses — which for most couriers is a fraction of what the platform paid.
A courier earning $16,000 who drove 13,000 business miles deducts $9,670 in mileage, leaving $5,830 of profit and a federal bill of $823.75, all of it self-employment tax.
How it's calculated
Uber reports courier earnings the same way it reports rideshare: a 1099-K for on-trip gross earnings, and a 1099-NEC for promotions and referrals. As with rideshare, the 1099-K shows what customers paid before Uber's fees came out, so it will exceed your deposits. Those fees are deductible, and Uber's annual tax summary breaks them out.
Bicycle and scooter couriers are a genuinely different case, and most guides ignore it. The standard mileage rate applies to a car, not a bike. If you deliver by bicycle you deduct actual costs instead: repairs, parts, a share of the purchase price through depreciation, and equipment like locks and lights. Those numbers are usually far smaller than a driver's mileage deduction, which means a bike courier's taxable profit is a much larger share of their earnings — an unwelcome surprise if nobody mentions it before April.
For car couriers, mileage dominates as it does in every delivery job. The 2026 rate is 72.5 cents through June 30 and 76 cents after, so 13,000 business miles split 6,000 and 7,000 deducts $9,670. Miles count from when you go online, including driving to the restaurant, waiting while available, and heading to the customer. Home to your starting zone is commuting and does not count.
The other deductions are modest but real: the business share of your phone plan and data, insulated delivery bags, phone mounts and chargers, and parking or tolls paid during deliveries.
Couriers work part-time more often than rideshare drivers, so a large share end up with profit below the $16,100 standard deduction. Federal income tax is then zero and the whole bill is self-employment tax at 14.13% of profit. If Uber Eats is a second job on top of a salary, the reverse holds and the delivery income is taxed at your top marginal rate — enter your wages above to see which applies. Either way, nothing is withheld, so it is paid quarterly.
A worked example
A courier earns $16,000 delivering by car and drives 13,000 business miles across the year — 6,000 before July and 7,000 after. Mileage deducts $9,670 at the 2026 rates.
A further $500 covers insulated bags, a phone mount, and the business share of their data plan. Net profit is $5,830.
Self-employment tax is $823.75 and, with profit far below the $16,100 standard deduction, income tax is zero — a total federal bill of about $206 a quarter. A bike courier earning the same $16,000 with only $1,200 of deductible equipment costs would have $14,800 of profit and owe $2,091 in self-employment tax, more than double, for identical earnings.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Assuming no 1099 means no tax. For 2026 a payer only files a 1099-NEC at $2,000 (up from $600) and a payment app only files a 1099-K above $20,000 and 200 transactions. Those are the payer's filing rules. Your own obligation starts at $400 of net self-employment earnings, and the IRS says to report gig income whether or not a form arrives.
- Paying nothing until April. Self-employment income has no withholding, so the IRS expects quarterly estimated payments. Waiting until you file can add an underpayment penalty on top of a bill you already were not expecting.
- Not tracking miles or expenses from day one. You are taxed on profit, not on what the platform paid you — but only for the expenses you can actually document. A mileage log reconstructed in April from memory is the single most commonly disallowed deduction.
- Treating the 1099-K total as your income without deducting Uber's fees. It reports what customers paid, not what you received.
- Assuming a bike or scooter courier can claim the standard mileage rate. That rate is for vehicles; bike couriers deduct actual equipment and repair costs, which are usually much smaller.
- Counting only the paid delivery distance. Miles driven to the restaurant and while waiting online are business miles too.
Frequently asked questions
Does Uber Eats withhold taxes?
No. Uber Eats couriers are independent contractors, so nothing is withheld for income tax, Social Security, or Medicare. You owe self-employment tax on your profit and pay it yourself in quarterly estimated instalments. Because there is no withholding at all, the full 15.3% self-employment tax is yours rather than being split with an employer.
How much can Uber Eats drivers deduct for mileage?
72.5 cents per business mile for miles driven January 1 through June 30, 2026, and 76 cents for miles from July 1 onward. Business miles run from when you go online — driving to the restaurant, waiting while available, and delivering to the customer — but exclude commuting from home to your starting area. Thirteen thousand business miles split across the two periods is a $9,670 deduction.
Can I deduct mileage if I deliver by bike?
No. The standard mileage rate applies to vehicles, so a bicycle or scooter courier deducts actual costs instead: repairs, parts, lights and locks, and depreciation on the bike itself. These are usually far smaller than a car courier's mileage deduction, so bike couriers keep a much larger share of earnings as taxable profit and should set aside a higher percentage.
Will Uber Eats send me a 1099?
A 1099-K if your gross on-trip earnings reach $20,000 across more than 200 transactions, and a 1099-NEC for promotions and referrals. Many part-time couriers fall under both thresholds and receive neither form, which does not change what they owe: the IRS requires gig income to be reported even when no information return is issued, and self-employment tax starts at $400 of net earnings.
How much should an Uber Eats courier save for taxes?
About 15% of profit if delivering is your only income, since the standard deduction commonly eliminates income tax and leaves just the 14.13% self-employment tax. Save 30% to 35% of profit if you deliver alongside a salaried job, because that income is taxed at your top marginal rate. In both cases the percentage applies to profit after mileage, not to what Uber paid you.
Sources
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