Guide · 5 min read
Mileage, payouts, hot bags, and quarterly taxes — the simple money tracker for gig drivers.
DoorDash only reports earnings — not deductions. Most dashers miss thousands in mileage because they only count miles after accepting a delivery. The IRS lets you deduct every business mile: between dashes, dead miles, and the way home from your last drop.
Stride, MileIQ, or SnapBooks logs miles automatically. Start it when you go online, stop when you call it a day. Cheaper than the tax you'd otherwise pay.
DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Instacart — tag each deposit. End of week you'll know which one actually pays after gas.
Hot bag, phone mount, dash cam, drinks cooler, hand sanitizer, parking, tolls. Small stuff adds up to $500–$1,500/year in extra deductions.
Move 25–30% of every payout to a savings account. Pay quarterly. No April panic.
SnapBooks tracks every mile, every payout, and every gear purchase — and tells you what you owe in tax.
Start freeYes. Dashers are 1099 contractors. You owe self-employment tax (15.3%) on net earnings above $400 plus federal and state income tax.
Standard mileage (70¢/mile in 2026) wins for almost every dasher. A driver who logs 25,000 work miles deducts $17,500 — usually more than actual expenses.
If you'll owe more than $1,000 in tax for the year, yes. Pay April 15, June 15, Sept 15, Jan 15. Set aside 25–30% of every payout to avoid an April surprise.
Yes — the business-use percentage. If you use your phone for DoorDash 60% of the time, deduct 60% of the bill plus 60% of the phone cost over its useful life.
All counted as self-employment income on the same Schedule C. Track mileage and earnings per platform so you know which one actually pays after gas.