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Tax For UberEats and Food Delivery Drivers
Updated 28th of June 2024
If you’re thinking of driving for a food delivery company like UberEats tax is probably one of your biggest uncertainties. Do UberEats drivers need an ABN? What about GST for UberEats? Is a logbook required? And what about tax deductions for UberEats drivers?
I’ve written this blog post to be your complete guide to tax for UberEats and Food Delivery Drivers. It will explain how to register with the ATO as a food delivery driver, and what tax deductions you can claim against your UberEats and food delivery income.
Driving for Amazon Flex? Jump to our article on Tax for Amazon Flex drivers.
Do UberEats & Delivery Drivers Need An ABN?
Yes, all UberEats, delivery drivers and Amazon Flex drivers must have an ABN.
ABN stands for Australian Business Number, and all sole traders, businesses and companies in Australia must have one. Every individual in Australia already has a Tax File Number, but TFN’s are private and confidential. So an ABN serves as the public identification number of a business.
So if you drive for UberEats, DoorDash, MenuLog, Amazon Flex or another delivery service, you must apply for an ABN from the Australian Taxation Office.
If you don’t have an UberEats ABN number yet, DriveTax offer a free ABN Application Service as part of our free Uber Tax Info Pack. It includes your UberEats ABN application lodged to the ATO for you, plus a free 5-day email course to explain the essentials AND a free Uber bookkeeping spreadsheet. If you’ve been driving for a while that’s okay, we can backdate your application for you as well. Register in just a few minutes here.
Do UberEats & Delivery Drivers Have To Register For GST?
If You ONLY Do Delivery, No Rideshare – GST Not Required
If you’re a food delivery driver, and you don’t do any rideshare, then you generally won’t have to register for GST.
Rideshare drivers have specific rules whereby they have to register for GST from the first $1 they earn. But if you’re not doing rideshare, then these rules don’t apply. Instead, as a delivery driver, you only need to register for GST if you earn more than $75,000 per year on your ABN.
If you are only using your ABN for delivery driving and nothing else, then it’s unlikely that you’ll cross the $75,000 threshold. However if you also have other income on your ABN, such as contracting work or another business, then you may cross the $75,000 threshold, and then you must register for GST. If you are registered for GST, then GST applies to ALL income on your ABN, including your delivery income.
What about BAS’s? If you are not registered for GST then you do not have to lodge a BAS, they’re only for GST-registered businesses.
If You Do Delivery AND Rideshare – GST Required
If you drive for UberEats AND UberX, or do any other ridesharing, then you must follow the rideshare rules, not the delivery rules. This means you must register for GST because of your ridesharing. This is because all rideshare drivers must register for GST from the first dollar they earn.
Here’s the catch: your GST registration applies to ALL your business activities, not just the rideshare driving. This means you’ll be paying GST on your delivery income AS WELL AS your ridesharing income. Of course, to offset this you can claim back the GST on your delivery expenses to reduce your GST bill, but you’re still likely to be paying a portion of your delivery earnings to the ATO in GST. This is an unfortunate side-effect of doing both types of driving at once.
If this applies to you, just over to our Complete Guide to GST for Uber Drivers for more information.
How Do I Manage My Taxes for UberEats?
Keep a Logbook Of Your UberEats Driving
If you use your car for deliveries, and you want to claim your fuel, insurance, depreciation and other car expenses, you MUST have a valid ATO logbook. The logbook is required by the ATO as evidence of the percentage of car expenses you can claim.
Without a logbook, you’ll be restricted to the ‘cents per kilometre method’ to claim your car deductions. This method allows you to claim a maximum of 5,000km at a set rate, so your total tax deduction is limited. Here are the rates:
- 2022-2023: the rate is 78 cents per km, so your maximum claim is 5,000km x 78c = $3,900
- 2023-2024: the rate is 85 cents per km, so your maximum claim is 5,000km x 85c = $4,250
- 2024-2025: the rate is 88 cents per km, so your maximum claim is 5,000km x 88c = $4,400
If you only drive a little, then this might be fine for you. And of course it’s much easier to use the cents per km method rather than keeping a logbook and keeping all your fuel receipts. But if you drive a lot, the cents per km method will give you a much smaller tax deduction than claiming your actual expenses with the logbook method, which would mean you’d be paying tax to the ATO unnecessarily.
I strongly recommend keeping a 12-week logbook even if you think you might not need it. That way, at the end of the financial year you can calculate your Uber car deductions both ways, by the logbook method and the cents per km method, and go with whichever one gets you the biggest overall tax deduction.
Here are the essentials of keeping a logbook:
- It must go for 12 weeks. It’s okay if the 12 weeks go past the 30th of June (e.g. you keep your logbook from May-July). But you must start before the 30th of June for it to count for the current year.
- You only need to make one logbook entry for each shift/session of driving, you don’t need to record individual deliveries. So for example, if you do a 5 hour shift with 20 deliveries, that’s just one entry in your logbook.
- You don’t need to record private/non-business trips.
- You must record the date, and the odometer reading of your car at the start and end of each shift/session of driving.
- You should start your logbook when you leave home or switch on your delivery app, and stop when you arrive back home or switch off the app. Your kms to and from home, and your kms in between deliveries can all be included.
Our Free Uber Spreadsheet also includes an ATO-compliant Logbook Spreadsheet which does all the adding up for you and calculates your UberEats logbook percentage. It also includes an expense tracker spreadsheet to help you maximise your UberEats tax deductions.
If you prefer a physical paper logbook we recommend the Zions Pocket Logbook, which you can buy from Officeworks for under $8. Using an app is also fine, as long as you are still recording your odometer readings at the start and end of every trip.
For more information about logbooks, visit our article on Keeping A Logbook For Uber.
If you use a motorcycle, bicycle, eBike or scooter for deliveries, you don’t need to keep a logbook. You just need to estimate what percentage you use your bike for business purposes using any ‘reasonable method’. We still recommend keeping some kind of log for at least a few weeks to show the ATO how you worked out your estimated percentage. Note that the cents per km method cannot be used for bikes.
Keep Records of your Uber Expenses
You’ll also need to keep records of your UberEats expenses, so that you can claim these back on your end of year tax return. That can be in a spreadsheet, such as the DriveTax Uber Spreadsheet, or just a collection of receipts.
The ATO will accept bank statement records if you don’t have receipts, however if you’re registered from GST you must have a tax invoice for expenses over $82.50 in order to claim for GST. For expenses where you don’t receive a receipt, such as car washes, you can make a note of the date and amount of the expense yourself, keep a notebook in your glovebox for this. For expenses that come electronically, like your mobile phone bill, save them in a dedicated tax folder in your inbox or on your computer.
For more on what tax deductions you can claim, check out our blog post on Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers.
Put Aside Money for your Tax Bill
If you make a profit from your driving, you will need to pay income tax on that profit, so it’s a good idea to put aside some of your earnings in a separate bank account to save for your tax bill. This is different to what you may be used to where your employer tax out tax for you. As a sole trader you must manage your tax obligations, calculate your business income and save for your tax bill yourself.
The amount you need to save will depend on a variety of factors, such as your marginal tax rate, whether you’re driving full-time or part-time, your other sources of income, and your car and running costs, so everyone’s tax bill will be different. But as a very rough rule of thumb, put aside 10-15% if driving is your only source of income, or 20-25% if it is your second job.
Declare Your UberEats Income and Expenses on your Tax Return
At tax time, on your end of financial year tax income return you’ll fill your UberEats and food delivery income and all related expenses into the Business Schedule. This is part of your normal tax return, it is not a separate lodgment. If you made a profit, it becomes part of your taxable income, and you’ll pay tax on this at your marginal tax rate. Check out our Ultimate Guide to Tax for Uber Drivers to learn more.
Note that even if you are below the tax-free threshold and will not have any tax to pay on your Uber income, you MUST still lodge an income tax return. This is because there are different rules for ABN holders than for regular employee-only tax returns. If you earn more than $1 on your ABN, you must lodge a tax return, even if you are below the tax-free threshold.
If you’d like help lodging your tax return, the DriveTax Express Tax service is designed especially for food delivery and rideshare drivers. By having a registered tax agent and Uber tax expert prepare your tax return you can make sure that every tax deduction is minimised and you get the best possible Uber tax refund. Visit our Tax Returns page to learn more.
Summary
- If you haven’t already got one, get your UberEats ABN for FREE with DriveTax (and register for GST if you will also do rideshare driving)
- Download our free Tax Info Pack below for more info, tax tips and a free bookkeeping spreadsheet.
- Learn more about Keeping a Logbook for Rideshare & Food Delivery
- If you need help lodging your tax return, visit our Tax Returns page.
Thoughts? Questions? Leave a comment below and I’ll respond shortly! – Jess
About the Author – Jess Murray CPA – Uber Accountant
Jess Murray is a CPA Accountant and registered tax agent. She’s been working in personal and small business tax for 15 years, and has been specialising in tax for Australian Uber Drivers for the last 7 years as the Director of DriveTax. She also teaches an online course called Understanding Uber Taxes.
Jess is on a mission to make taxes straightforward and manageable for Uber drivers across Australia.
The information in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal circumstances. If you’d like to know how this article applies to you, please contact us to arrange a consultation, or talk to your accountant.
Hi
I’m doing just uber eats
Just want to know that in my uber tax settings it’s showing that individual sole trader.
So I want to know that do I have to pay GST every three months or have to just have to do it in every year July in tax time?
Thanks a lot.
Kind Regards
Ahmed
Hi Ahmed, BAS’s are only for if you are registered for GST. If you are only doing delivery work then you do not have to register for GST. So assuming you didn’t register voluntarily, you will not have to lodge BAS. You only need to declare your UberEats income and expenses in your usual end of year tax return. – Jess
I have a question, if I earned, for example, 5,000 dollars throughout the year, how much should I set aside for each dollar?
Hi Andrew. This depends on a large number of factors, so I can’t give you a direct answer. I recommend our article about Saving for Uber Taxes for more information. – Jess
Hi
I recently started doing Menulog Deliveries, How much would I need to put aside for tax?
Stefano.
Hi Stefano, it’s a complicated question. The article above will help explain, and also our article about Saving For Your Tax Bill. – Jess
Hi,
In the spreadsheet, how do I define, how much is my motor business use percentage? Isn’t it what will come out of my log book? If I drive 1000k in 12 weeks, and drove 500k for deliveries, then my motor use for business will be 50%?
Hi Sakun, yes that’s exactly right. If you have completed your 12-week logbook you should use that percentage in the red . Or for someone who hasn’t done a logbook yet, then just put in an estimate for now, and you can go back and update the red cells once your logbook is complete. Here is more information on Keeping a Logbook for Uber. – Jess
Thank you, Jess.
Howdy, Jess,
I work FIFO (2/1) and want to buy a motorbike and claim it on tax by doing food delivery work during my week off.
Is there a sort of minimum I need to work to justify claiming the bike? Also, I read that logbooks aren’t needed for motorbikes, but with me only working every third week for a few days at a time, will this be an issue, also?
Thanks heaps for your insights.
Kind regards,
Ry.
Hi Ry, there’s no minimum, you just might have a small percentage of business use, which means you’re only claiming a small percentage of the bike expenses. You’re correct that for motorbikes a full 12 week logbook isn’t required, but I always recommend keeping one anyway for at least 4 weeks, if not more, so that if the ATO ever ask questions you’ll have a justification of the percentage you have claimed. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I’m doing food delivery full time and estimate that I could make 100,000 for the year.
At what point do I need to be registered for GST? Can I register when passing the 75k threshold?
And is my tax worked out after GST?
For example, make 120k, gst is 10.9k. So I’d pay tax on the income after gst and minus expenses. And then pay gst of 10.9k minus any gst credits I have that may lower that? Am I on the right track?
Hi Steve, if your projected gross income (i.e. before deducting expenses) for 12 months is over $75k (or if you have more than $1 of rideshare income) then you must register for GST. When they say ‘projected’ there is of course some grey area there, you may like to give it a month or two of driving first to see if your earnings are as high as you expect, and if so then you could register from the 1st day of the next quarter. And yes, you pay tax on the GST-exclusive amount. For more information on that, check out our Complete Guide to GST, it is written for rideshare drivers but would equally apply to a delivery driver earning over $75k. – Jess
Hi, I,m doing delivery with door dash and Menulog, recently wanted to do Uber rideshare as well. It was mandatory to register for GST and I have registered for it. Now I have to pay GST for door dash and Menulog deliveries as well. In this case am I loosing money because I need to pay GST not only for rideshare but for food deliveries as well??? If yes how can I deregister from GST and stick to food delivery only. Thank you
Hi Azad, if you are doing rideshare you must register for GST, and then you must pay GST on ALL of your ABN income, including delivery. If you stop doing rideshare then you can cancel your GST registration, and then you will not have to pay GST on income from that date forwards. The only way to cancel your GST registration is by calling the ATO (usually you can do this online, but the ATO have a special rule for rideshare drivers where it has to be done over the phone). – Jess
Thank you Jess, but am I loosing money by paying GST on deliveries? Lets say if I was doing delivery only in a financial year I could have made $30000 but now I’m doing rideshare as well so I can make extra $10000. However I’m paying GST on entire income rather than $10000. In this scenario am I loosing money???
Hi Azad, if you are making $10k of extra income, but you have to pay 1/11th of GST on $40k of income, begin $3,636 (and you would also get GST credit for all your expenses to offset this) then it sounds like you are still better off. However it depends on how much you make and your expenses, it is certainly possible that you could be worse off if you had rideshare profits. You will need to analyse your own earnings and decide if the extra rideshare income is worth the trade-off of having to pay GST on all income. For some people it is not worthwhile, so they are better of quitting rideshare, deregsitering from GST, and only doing delivery. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I’ve been doing Ubereats and DoorDash from February 2022, And recently got an email from ATO that mine tax return is ready and I can lodge for tax return.I have no idea how these things works as applied for my bank credit card they also asking for an Tax return number from ATO.can you please guide me if I can lodge my tax return now(in July) or what things I am eligible for to claim I have read your article I never used logbook for car so how can I show the proof of car KMs..I only have my bank statement about fuel thing as Proof.
Thank you.
HI Ishant, I recommend reading our Complete Guide to Uber Taxes, I hope it will point you in the right direction! – Jess
Hi Jess,
As uber eat driver WITH ABN do i have to register the following as a business.
1 car registration
2 CTP insurance .
3 Car insurance .
4 Road side assistance
THANKS IN ADVANCE
Hi Sargon, from the ATO’s perspective it doesn’t make a difference whether they are business policies or not, as long as you have a valid 12 week logbook you can claim a tax deduction all of them. So you really just need to check the requirements of the insurance company/your road authority for their rules. – Jess
Hi Jess,
For Uber eats fees, when do they take it out as all I recieve is the gross income I’ve earned in my bank account after each week worked? Have they already taken it out?
Also with the log book having to be 12 continuous weeks, does it have to be everyday or just everyday that you’ve worked? For example I could of worked Monday to Friday then couldn’t work Saturday and Sunday, so I start logbook again on Monday missing 2 days. Does this still count for continuous?
Also do we need to take out super to or is this voluntary for sole traders? Also how could we work out holidays, sick leave etc?
Hi Andrew, Uber now fold their fees into the gross rate of UberEats fees, they no longer list them separately, which means you don’t have to declare them to the ATO separately. To the logbook, it’s not expected that you drive every day. You just have to have 12 weeks between your first day and your last day, and record all of your business trips within that time. Regarding super, this is completely voluntary, you can find more information here. – Jess
Thanks very much. I will hire your services soon as finish logbook in a few months
Hi Jess
Also with the logbook does it matter if I use a different car during the 12 weeks? For example if I use a car with different amount of kms do I just record the kms? Do I need to record the Rego number as well?
Hi Andrew, it’s no problem to change cars during the 12 weeks. It will make when doing the logbook calculation a little trickier though. The end calculation requires you to work out the car’s kms as a percentage of the car’s total kms travelled in that time, so if you have multiple cars that will have to be taken into account. If you just switch from one car to another once during the logbook period then it will be easy enough to calculate form the one logbook, but if you are switching back and forth multiple times then you may be better off keeping two logbooks concurrently and adding them together at the end. You can find more information about calculating logbooks here. – Jess
Hey Jess, I am really glad I stumbled on this article. It is very informative.
I have a doubt regarding taxes. I worked as a food delivery partner with Uber Eats, Menulog and Doordash for the 1st half of the Financial Year (July 21- Jan 22). I got a full time job in Jan and my employer deducts my taxes before I get paid.
I have earned around $13000 during the first 6 months of the financial year, how do I file my taxes in this case?
Hi Prashanth, you will need to declare both your delivery income and your employee income in your 2022 tax return. Our Express Tax service is perfect in this case, as it includes both of these income sources and all of your tax deductions for both activities. You can read more about Express Tax, including pricing, how it works, and how to get started, on our Tax Returns Information Page. – Jess
Hi
I am uber delivery driver and want to know that can I claim new car and phone for tax deduction. My phone got broken while using uber app.
Hi Harvinder, yes you can claim deductions for these, but you must have a logbook for the car, and for the phone you can only claim the business use percentage. I recommend checking out our blog posts on Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers and Buying A Car For Uber for more information. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I’m looking to buy new mobile either outright or on a 36 month contract. Can I claim a higher deduction buying outright? Thanks in advance
Hi Mike, the tax deduction is based on the dollar amount you pay out of your bank account at the time that you pay it. So in your situation, if the price is the same outright over 36 months then the tax deduction amount will be the same, it’s just whether you get the tax deduction all at the start or spread out over the 36 months. – Jess
Hi
I was a menulog driver but stop working and haven’t worked a single day during this financial year. Do you think i need to submit tax return? I do not have any other income.
I paid tax 2 years prior but this year i was abroad most the time. Thank you
Hi Khalad, unfortunately if you have an ABN the ATO don’t allow you to submit a ‘Non-Lodgment Declaration’. Instead you will have to lodge a tax return, but it should be fairly simple, just $0 income and answer the Medicare questions. Hopefully MyTax will make it easy for you. – Jess
Hi Jess ,
I have started doing Uber eats but I am using my wife’s car,am I able to claim deductions or should I transfer car into my name?
Hi Ashu, you don’t have to transfer the car. The ATO understands that partners/spouses often share vehicles, so it’s no problem if it’s in your wife’s name. You will need to keep records of ALL the car’s running costs (fuel, rego, insurance etc), including her fuel, your personal fuel and your UberEats fuel. Then your must keep a logbook to show the ATO what percentage the car is used for UberEats. Then you can claim this percentage of the car’s total running costs in your tax return. See our blog post on Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers for more tips on keeping a logbook. – Jess
Hi Jess, I also want to ask, in this situation, can I use cents per kilometer method to apply deduction for my wife’s car? Thanks
Hi Bill, you can claim expenses for a car even if it was owned/registered in your spouse’s name, as long as you can show that the car was actually registered on your Uber account and used for your delivery driving. – Jess
76,000 a year before tax and my employee withholds and my employee witholds some of my income for tax purposes I was thinking of starting “Uber eats” and I read That you don’t have to pay GST if you’re only doing Uber eats and your turnover is less than 75,000 a year, I was wondering does this turnover only apply to the Uber eats or your whole combined income ? For example if I make 76,000 from my normal job and 25,000 from Uber eats, will I have to pay GST since my turnover from Uber eats is less than 75,000?
Kind regards
Hi Abdi, the $75,000 threshold only related to your ABN/business income, it doesn’t include your employment income. So if your UberEats income was only $25,000 then you wouldn’t have to register for GST, regardless of how much you earned for your employee job. – Jess
Hi Jess. A question around ownership of the car and what I can claim.
We have 2 cars which are both registered in my spouses name. 1 is owned outright by my spouse and the other is on a novated lease. Both cars are shared between the 2 of us and both cars would be used privately as well as for Uber eats deliveries. The ATO website suggests I can only claim expenses actually incurred rather then using the logbook or cents per km method. Given the cars are used for mixed business and personal can I claim for things such as fuel as the expense will be 50/50 split?
Hi Ash, the ATO understands that spouses often own cars in each others names, so that is not a problem. You must keep a 12 week logbook for both cars to show the UberEats percentage, and keep separate records of the expenses for each car. So for example, lets say you end up with a 30% logbook for Car A and a 40% logbook for Car B, then you can claim 30% of Car A’s fuel, rego, insurance, rego etc, and 40% of Car B’s. This can be tricky if you are using the DriveTax Spreadsheet, so if this is the case for you please contact me via email and I can advise further. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I am thinking of doing DoorDash delivery.
I will be going out to do delivery’s when I can but it won’t be often as I am a full time mum.
I have signed up for an abn# for it and will only be using it for Doordash.
This is probably a silly question/s but My question is, is it a must to pay tax with Doordash even if I don’t earn much? If so, is there a way where my tax can be taken out automatically each week from my pay or would I have to save it myself? If I don’t pay tax, what will happen? Sorry I’m not really familiar with tax and how it works.
Thank you
Hi Marilyn, yes the ATO does require you to include every dollar of delivery income in your tax return. If your overall taxable income is below the tax-free threshold then you won’t have to pay any tax on it, it just depends on how much other taxable income you have. But either way, whether you will have to pay tax or not, you are required to declare all the income either way. I recommend checking out our Complete Guide to Tax for Uber Drivers for the answers to your other questions. – Jess
Hi Jess,
How do I work out the business percentage of expenses from my log book?
Hi Grace, let me direct you over to our post on Keeping a Logbook for Uber, you’ll find instructions there. – Jess
Hi Jess, a question about motorcycle delivery, for example if i purchased a new motorcycle to use for deliveries is this classed as an instant asset write off? and if it is how does one go about claiming this? If it isnt if I purchased a new motorbike for uber deliveries what can I claim and how do I go about it? thanks
Hi Kirk, yes you can claim the instant asset write off/temporary full expensing. For motorbikes, scooters etc technically a 12 week logbook isn’t required and the ATO allows you to just estimate the business use percentage, but I usually recommend that it’s better to keep a logbook anyway, at least for a month or so, to show the ATO how you worked out your estimate. – Jess
Excellent, on another note how does this affect my usual job and taxation, let’s say for example I earned 75k gross on my usual job and only 7k on my Uber eats, but my outlay for purchase of the motorcycle was 6k plus other expenses(Uber fees etc) would the loss be a deduction on my main income ? Thanks
Hi Kirk, if you make an overall loss on your ABN, you can only claim that loss against your employee income if your gross income from the business (i.e. before subtracting expenses) is more than $20,000. If your gross income was under $20,000 you cannot claim the loss in the current year, instead it must be ‘carried forward’ and you can only claim it against future profits from that same business activity (e.g. only against delivery driving profits or only against rideshare profits). If you started driving partway through the financial year then the $20,000 threshold is pro-rated. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I have an ABN that is registered for GST noting that I have had no business activity in my ABN for years.
I have recently purchased a new car (with a loan) and intend to earn side income as an UberEATS driver. In this scenario, do I still need to lodge BAS for my UberEATS income? Would it be better to simply cancel my GST registration instead?
Hi James, if you are only doing food delivery and not rideshare then you do not have to be registered for GST or lodge BAS’s. Normally I would recommend cancelling the GST registration so that you don’t have to pay GST on your UberEats income. Having said this, since you’re purchasing a car it may actually be beneficial overall to voluntarily remain GST-registered and pay GST on your UberEats income and get the GST credit for your car. You would need to run the calculations on the GST payable on your UberEats income over the course of the time you’re delivering versus the GST credit for the car (subject to your business use percentage) and the amount of GST you’d have to pay back when you stop delivering. I can’t give personal advice here, but I hope this points you in the right direction. – Jess
Hi jess,.
I am international student, so I have 20 working hours weekly and I do uber eats 20hrs weekely. So, can I do any other food delivery app like doordash along with it at the same time? as I only have 20hrs, without breaching my visa conditions. Will it be considered only 20hrs i I do both the apps at the same or it will be calculated 20 hrs each making total to 40hrs.
Thanks in advance
Hi Madhur, I’m sorry I don’t have any knowledge about visas so I don’t know the answer to your question. You would need to talk to the government department that sets the rules for your visa. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help. – Jess
Hi Jess, I’m struggling to get my ABN to become a delivery driver, do I register as an individual, as a partner or representing a company? And If I’m registering under an individual, am i a sole trader? Thank you, Cooper
Hi Cooper, all Uber drivers must register as individuals, which is the same thing as a sole trader. I recommend checking out our blog post on How To Get An ABN For Uber, and you’ll find a link to our free ABN Application service. – Jess
Hi Jess, how do l lodge the BAS if l don’t do any rideshare activities in a quarter, but only did food delivery. My ABN is registered for GST. Do l pay GST if l do food delivery only the whole quarter in my BAS? Or l shld lodge BAS as zero income?
Hi Brian, if you are registered for GST then you must declare and pay GST on ALL of your ABN income, including food delivery income. You can read more about this in our blog post on GST for Uber Drivers. – Jess
Hi Jess
Just signed up to be a Menulog driver which will probably start next week or so.
I have just come across this and it has been very helpful.
As mentioned above from each weekly pay i should take the tax out/put aside in different acct so i dont owe all this money when doing tax return. This would be my 2nd job and so im doing this right should i put aside at least 25% right? Is it better weekly or monthly?
Also how do i pay them the tax? I assume a simple bank transfer?
Is it possible to pay to them on a weekly or monthly basis? Directly?
Like i dont want to hold on to money thats tax money?
Thanks for your help.
Uni
Hi Uni, yes I strongly recommend saving some of your income to cover your tax bill. You can save it at whatever frequency is most convenient for you. It’s not possible to pay it to the ATO in advance, you will have to put it in a separate savings account. I recommend reading our blog post on saving for your Uber tax bills for more information. – Jess
Hi, I’ve just started with ubereats and have purchased a bike solely for delivering food, I’m confused as to where I need to add the bike cost on the spreadsheet as it says bike purchase – dont enter here. I’m sure its obvious but I’m somehow missing it
Hi Jason, if your bike costs over $1,000 (e.g. an e-bike or motorbike) then it is a depreciable asset rather than an expense, so it is entered in a different section of your tax return. If you have the full version of the DriveTax spreadsheet you can enter it directly into the Tax Summary tab. Or if you have the free version then just make a note to add it manually to your tax return at the end of the year. If your bike was under $1,000 we generally just treat it as a regular expenses you can pop it into the expenses spreadsheet under “Bike Expenses – Other”. – Jess
Hi Jess, this article answered all my questions. Thank you so much. I’ll definitely use your services
Thankyou Pooya!
Hi Jess, i have been an Uber eats driver for 3 plus years. If I apply for an ABN number now it asks when you started doing this work. My question is, will the Australian Tax Office want to charge me tax on my earnings 28% on earnings of less than $10,000 per annum.
Thanks for all your advice on this forum.
Mike
Hi Mike, you must pay income tax on all of your UberEats income at your marginal tax rate. You must pay the tax even if you didn’t get an ABN when you were supposed to, and the amount of tax will depend on your tax rate. – Jess
Here’s a question for you, I drive with Menulog and also receive Centrelink youth allowance payments… how do I report my income to them seeing as all my earnings are against my ABN?
Hi Meisha, you will need to ask Centrelink what they require from you. Sometimes they ask for a Profit & Loss Statement, while other times they seem to just ask for your income. You will have to wait and see what they ask for. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific! – Jess
Hi Jess,
I work as an Uber driver, I only deliver foods with a bicycle. I have earned about $10,000 for the year 2019-2020 and I donnot understand how I should declare my income and if I have to pay taxes?
I tried it myself on the ATO website, and I got an estimate of $3000 in taxes to pay. However, I thought that if I earned less than $18,200 I wouldn’t have to pay taxes?
I’m a little confused.
Thank you
Hi Julie, if you are an Australian tax resident then the tax-free threshold is $18,200, so you shouldn’t have to pay any tax. You can find more information in our blog post Uber Taxes Explained. If you would like to learn how to complete your own tax return on MyGov you may be interested in our Understanding Uber Taxes online course, or if you would like us to prepare the tax return for you here’s our Tax Return Services information. – Jess
Hi Jess. I have a question, I have worked as a delivery at Uber Eats, can I include in the method of pennies per kilometer the total that it says on the uber bill for the fiscal year?
Hi Yura, yes, you can use the cents per km method. The kms listed on your Uber summary are only for while you are on a delivery, but you can also claim for kms in between deliveries and kms to and from home. So maybe your claim will be more than the number of kms written on the Uber Tax Summary. It is okay to estimate the extra kilometres, but remember the maximum is 5,000km. – Jess
I really appreciate your answer.
Thank you so much.
Hi Jess, the ATO website says we can’t claim kms travelled between home and work. Does this mean that if we need to travel to another location first before turning the app on and receiving trips, we can’t claim that distance?
Hi Jason, you’re referring to the rule for employees, it doesn’t apply to sole traders (i.e. rideshare and food delivery drivers). Sole traders can claim all business-related kms, so you can record your kms from when you leave home. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I have been working during the last financial year as an Uber Eats deliver by bicycle. Should I just consider my income as PSI for tax return purposes?
Hi Patrick, no, UberEats and Uber driving are both not considered PSI. – Jess
Hi Jess
I just started working as Ubereats driver in Jan 2020. However, I registered for ABN (with GST) in July 2020 and back registration date my ABN and GST to Jan. All my income from Ubereats.
My question is
Do I need to pay GST for Jan2020-Mar2020 and April2020-June2020 before cancle GST
or not pay and call ATO to cancle my GST and tell them that I only do Ubereats , I never do rideshare. So I do not need to do BAS
Thank you
Hi Mix, you will need to call the ATO and tell them you registered for GST incorrectly and ask if they can cancel the GST for you. If they can’t, then you will have to pay GST on all your income, including UberEats, for the time you were GST registered. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I currrently do only uber eats as a part time side income and have only earned about $3 – $5k but my full time salty job is around 60k before tax annually will I get taxed more and is it worth to continue to do this part time?
Hi Shaun, it’s really a personal choice as to whether it’s worth it for you. I recommend reading our blog post on How Much Will I Really Earn From Uber Driving (it applies for UberEats too), I hope it will help you. – Jess
Hi Jess, in advance thanks for your help
I did ubereats with a motorcycle i bought on january 2019 (i did not declare this as i deduction for the 2018-2019 financial year) then for an accident this motorcycle was declared as a witten-off, the insurance company gave some money, so i´ll declare as a deduction the motorcycle cost – the money insurance company gave me, is this correct?
Later i worked with a relative´s motorcycle which i had to pay 6 months rego, can I deduct this cost?
On june i bought a motorcycle can i deduct this cost? proportionally? or it´d be for the next financial year?
Thanks for your advice
Hi Angel, the cost of the motorbike would be a tax deduction, and then the money from the insurance company would be taxable income. You would apply your business use percentage to both of these amounts, and you would need to include them in your 2018-19 tax return (you would need to amend this if you have already lodged it). For the motorbike that you borrowed you can claim a tax deduction for all costs that you paid out of your own pocket, and again your percentage applies. If you bought your new motorbike in June 2020 that is the 2019-2020 financial year, and you would claim the whole cost times your business use percentage, you don’t have to apportion it to next year. – Jess
Hi jess i just did my tax this year, and i earned about 9000$ from uber eats entire year i end up paying 700$ for this years tax return a friend of mine adviced me that i should be paying tax installments
my question now is how can i do this.
HI Eric, the ATO will notify you if they decide you have to pay PAYG Instalments. You can read more about PAYG Instalments here. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I just started working as Ubereats driver in February 2020. However, when I registered for ABN (without GST) just now, I can’t back date my ABN registration date to February?
Is there anyway we can amend the date? Can I email the ABN/ATO?
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
Kind regards,Alex
Hi Alex, yes unfortunately the only way to change an ABN date is to call the ATO. – Jess
Hi
I am doing uber eats and need to lodge my tax.
I recieved summary from Uber
I am still confusing with about fare breakdown $8000 and potential deduction uber service fee $3000
how much should I put on my tax declaration $5000 or $8000 with $3000 deduction? because I actually only earn $5000
Hi Lie, you must declare the gross income ($8,000 in your case) and then the expenses ($3,000). I know it’s more work and it gives the same result either way, but the ATO want to see all of the information. – Jess
Hi Jess
I started to drive ubereats from October 2019 and I got my ABN on April 2020. Basically I registered GST accidentally by the time applying for the ABN. So I have to do BAS for April 2020 to June 2020. In this case, do I need to report gst from my income, like from the delivery fares. (I currently drives ubereats only)
Hi Daniel, from the date you are registered for GST you must pay GST on ALL if your ABN income, so that includes your UberEats income and all other income you earn on your ABN. You can read more in our blog post on GST for Uber Drivers. – Jess
Thanks Jess, can i unregister the gst part to avoid paying it in the future? or just unregister my current ABN then apply for another one without gst
Hi Daniel, yes you can cancel the GST registration as long as you are not doing rideshare. You will always have the same ABN, you only get one for your whole lifetime, so if you cancel and then apply again you will get the same ABN number. – Jess
Do food drivers need lodge BAS
Hi Nazar, No. If you are not registered for GST then you do not have to lodge a BAS. BAS’s are only for people who are GST-registered, so it does not apply to UberEats or food delivery drivers (unless you also do rideshare). – Jess
Good Afternoon, Uber Eats drivers pay GST in the service fee, if I am in the tax free threshold, Can I claim that money back (as taxes on TFN)? or it just works to reduce the taxable income?
Hi Carlos, if you are an UberEats driver then you do not have to be registered for GST. This means you don’t have to pay GST on your income, and likewise you ignore all the GST in all the expenses you pay. For example the GST on your Uber fees, GST on your fuel receipts and GST on your mobile phone bill, all of these are ignored. You will just claim the total expenses as tax deductions on your end of year tax return. – Jess
Hi,
I have done only one day uber eats and earn 100 and has not registered in the ABN do I need to file tax return and open ABN this financial year or I can start from july 1.
Hi Diwas, if you earned more than $1 in the 2020 financial year you must get an ABN from the date you started and you must lodge a business schedule in your 2020 tax return. You can read more information in our Guide To Uber and UberEats Tax – Jess
Hi Jess,
Hope you are doing well.
I had a question as I recently started doing Ubereats using my car to drive. I have a fulltime job of $75k on TFN and I started doing Ubereats on 22nd June 2020. I don’t have ABN registered so far. To file a tax for this financial year what do I need to do? And I am thinking to stop using Ubereats driving from now on. So to summarize, I have done Ubereats for a week only and earned $400 only. Can you please advise the best way to file tax this year including deductions?
Awaiting your response.
Thanks
Mohit
Hi Mohit, since you are driving for UberEats you must get an ABN and lodge a tax return. I recommend reading our blog posts on ABN’s for Uber & UberEats Drivers, and then read our Uber Tax Returns page for more information on how to lodge your tax return. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I’m currently have a part time job (receiving JobKeeper).
I just started UberEats Delivery today. I have applied for an ABN and waiting for it.
Since the Uber is my second job, how can I do the tax or I don’t have to?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you
Hi Ken, when you drive for UberEats you are self-employed. This means Uber will not take out tax for you, instead you must put some tax savings aside yourself. You can read more about this in our blog post on Uber Taxes Explained, under the heading Saving For Your Tax Bill. – Jess
Hi Jess
Thank you for this wonderful pieces of information. I suppose UberEats drivers will be allowed the same tax deductions as Uber drivers for tools like your vehicle?
Hi Andre, yes, all the same tax deductions apply. You can read more in our blog post Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers. – Jess
Hi jess, i do uber eats from my bicycle and say, in one trip the fare is $13.85 and uber have fee of $4.85 and i get paid is $9 so my understanding is that i am only taxed in $9 won’t I? or am i going to be taxed for $13.85.
Hi Sanjay, you only get taxed on the $9. However you can’t just declare the net $9 as income. You must declare the $13,85 as income, and then claim $4.85 as a deduction. It’s still the same result, but the ATO want to see both sides of the equation. – Jess
More simple: are Ubereats drivers eligible for NSW Stamp Duty exemption for small businesses?
Hi Marina, I’m sorry I don’t really know about state-based duties and fees, but I can confirm that an UberEats driver would be classed as a small business. – Jess
when i registered for uber eats on may 2019 , they didnt ask ABN. I opened my account on bicycle. i did uber eats for only 1 month, then i started uber eats delivery from october 2019 to till now on car. I got my ABN as individual/sole trader in February 2020. Now, how should i link my ABN to uber eats account. During account opening, uber eats didnot ask ABN and when i transferred my account into car, then also they didnt ask me for any ABN.
Hi Bhrugesh, I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to this, you would need to ask Uber. All I can tell you is that the ATO requires you to have an ABN and you have to declare the ABN in your tax return together with your UberEats income. – Jess
Hi, I am an UberEats driver from last year, I have paid my tax, and for this year (2019/2020) I am still doing UberEats only until last week, this week is my first driving with DiDi. Since I read you explanations about paying GST, am I have to pay GST for my earning from UberEats before I earn with DiDi?
I have earned $75 from DiDi, can I stop for driving with DiDi and back to UberEats only? Do I still have to pay GST on my 2020 tax return?
Hi Nyoman. You have to register for GST from the date you start doing rideshare, and then you have to pay GST on all your rideshare and food delivery income from that date forward. You don’t have to pay GST on income before your GST registration date. If you stop driving rideshare you can deregister from GST, and after that date you won’t have to pay GST anymore. But you will still have to lodge a BAS and pay GST for the time you were GST Registered. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I need Uber Eats ABN to file my taxes, where can I find it as it is not anywhere on the website or pay statements
Hi Harvinder, UberEats ABN isn’t required when filling in your tax return (I myself have no idea what it is!). So I’m wondering if you’re putting it in the wrong area of your tax return? Make sure you are entering it in the business schedule, not under employee income or personal services income. – Jess
Hi, wondering if ubereats is entered as PSI or business income? thank you
Hi Hasha, it’s normal business income, not PSI. – Jess
Thank you. In mygov, Would I be able to know which section do I enter the deductions for ubereats (cost of mobile phone usage, fuel etc) please?
Hi Hasha, I’m sorry I can’t answer that here, it would take so long to explain. Our Understanding Uber Taxes course has a 20 minute video tutorial on how to complete your UberEats return in MyGov, so it’s defintiely more than I can write here! If you are interested in the course you can find more information here. – Jess
can homeless people work at Ubereats?
HI Peter, from the ATO’s perspective anyone can work and earn income. But I don’t know what UberEats’ rules are so you would need to check with them, for example needing a postal address? I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to this. All the best! – Jess
Hi my husband works for uber eats and we need to know does he need a abn number When he gets under 200 a week
Hi Toni, EVERY UberEats driver must have an ABN, even if you only earn $1 of income. – Jess
Hi all.. I have a question.. I am international student with 20Hr working visa condition. I work with both Ubereats and Deliveroo applications as food delivery. Now my question is that: If I work 5Hr with both applications at same time, will it be considered 10Hr working time by immigration? Because each application record 5Hr working time for me. OR it will recorded just 5Hr by immigration ?
I dont know how immigration track working hours for two delivery applications !
Thanks
Hi Mash, I’m sorry I can’t help with this, I specialise in tax law, not immigration law, it’s a completely separate area. You’ll need to chat to Immigration to find out how the rules work for Uber and UberEats. – Jess
Hey jess! I have been delivering uber eats occasionally during month of may/june 2019 for approx more than 20 days..My gross income was around 930$ it includes service fee which uber takes.Is this amount taxable ?I didn’t maintain any log book since I was occasional driver..I am confused now how to lodge tax return for this amount..Need your suggestions..Thanks
Hi Abid, you will need to fill in the business schedule of your tax return, and since you didn’t keep a logbook you must use the cents per km method to claim your car expenses. I’m sorry I can’t explain how to do that here. If you need help you can use our Express Tax service or you can sign up for our 6 Month Unlimited Email Support package and I can walk you through it via email. – Jess
Thanks jess for reply.I want to ask that if my gross income is less than tax threshold and I don’t owe tax to ATO,still can I claim tax return for car expenses?
Hi Abid, first you should note that you must still lodge a tax return and declare your Uber income even if you are under the tax-free threshold. These are the rules for all ABN-holders. Yes you can declare your expenses, however they may not bring you any benefit. If you are under the tax-free threshold then you will not be paying any tax. Tax deductions are meant to reduce your tax bill, but if your tax bill is already $0 then it can’t get any better than that! However if your expenses are more than your income then you will incur a loss, and that can be carried forward and claimed against profits in future years, so it is still worth claiming. – Jess
Hi Jess
Can i update TFN for ubereats via car instead of opening ABN as its just my second work?
Thank you
Hi Nirmal. No, a TFN and an ABN are two different things. You must have an ABN to do UberEats. – Jess
Hi Jess,
The car that I am using for UBER EATS is registered under my wife’s name, but I am an insured driver of the same car. Can you please kindly advise if this will become a matter when I claim for Fuel expenses and related deductions in my tax return? Thanks
Hi Gayan, this is not a problem at all. The ATO understands that often spouses share cars or buy cars in the other spouse’s name. It’s still absolutely deductible, as are all the related expenses. – Jess
Hi Jess,
Just a few questions about paying tax, how do I know exactly how much I need to pay in tax? Will the ATO let me know how much I need to pay? Also does tax need to be payed at the end of each quarter or yearly at the EOFY?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Asher, your exact tax bill is calculated as part of your end of year tax return. So if you do it yourself on MyTax then MyTax will tell you your total tax bill/refund, or if you use a tax agent then they will tell you. It is paid as part of your end of year tax refund/bill. – Jess
Hi jess. This is really confusing.
I dont know how i am getting paid .
I do ubereats in moped .
I didnt made any ABN and still i dont have .
In what basis am i getting paid ?
I am really confused. I dont think its TFN as uber eats neither asked for ABN nor TFN but i am getting paid.
Hi Aashish, all UberEats drivers and riders must have an ABN. UberEats themselves may not ask you for it, but the ATO requires you to have it. You will need to apply for an ABN back to the date you started UberEats. You can do this through our Free Tax Info Pack above. – Jess
I’ve had an ABN in the past, but it was registered under myself and my wife as a family partnership. I am doing uber eats deliver and I want the delivery income to only be in my name, do I reactivate the old ABN with detail change or get a new one as an individual?
Hi Greg, you will definitely need to get a new ABN, it’s not possible to transfer an ABN from one person/entity to another. – Jess
Hi Jess,
The above article was very helpful, Thank you. I am an Uber Eats driver and I have query regarding the income declaration on the ATO app. In the pay statement, we are able to see Trip Earnings, Fare & Uber Fee. Basically Trip Earnings = Fare – Uber Fee(incl GST). But in the tax summary they are showing Fare as Gross Uber Rides Fare and Uber Fee as Deductions. So my doubt is for declaration to the ATO should we publish the Gross Uber Rides Fare and then put Uber Fee in deductions or put only the Trip Earnings which is the amount transferred to my bank account?
Hi Andy, the ATO require you to show the Gross Fares and other various income amounts as Income, and then the Uber Fees as Expenses. Obviously it’s the same net result, but the ATO want to see the breakdown! – Jess
Hi Jess,
On the pay statement and tax summary, it is given that Uber Fees include GST. Do we include the entire figure in expenses ?
Hi Andy, yes. Assuming as a food delivery driver you’re not registered for GST, you will ignore GST in all your income and expenses, and just declare/claim the whole amounts. So just as you claim your whole fuel receipt and ignore the included GST, the same goes for the Uber fees, you just claim the whole amount. – Jess
Hi Jess
My husband is working on TFN and earned 10,000 and also he is working as uber eats driver as part time. He earned 2420 from uber till this 30th june. The problem is we already lodged our file with his salary from bakery because uber salary was less so one of our friend recommend no need to add it as income in our lodgement file.
But now we are trying to add Uber income as well so can you tell me if it will give us any problem because we didn’t add this income before. Also do we need to register in ABN now to add this income. Oone more thing when i was trying to add uber income in ATO, it was asking for Uber ABN. Can you tell me what is that?
Thanks,
Ren
Hi Renu, if you earn more than $1 from UberEats you have to get an ABN (Australian Business Number) and you must declare the income on your tax return. If you have alresady lodged the tax return, you will need to lodge an ‘amendment’. You can use our Express Tax service for this if you like. But first you need to get an ABN, you can read more about this in our blog post Seven Steps to Sorting Your Uber Tax Obligations. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I am currently driving for Ola and doing uber eats (so only ride-sharing for Ola).
Uber eats did not request an ABN when I signed up so now my question is – would I only pay GST on my Ola income? And Uber eats would just be regular income tax?
Hi Slava, it doesn’t make any difference what your delivery company/rideshare company does. All of them are different, and some of them aren’t actually Australian companies do they aren’t really set up properly for Australian tax law. But it doesn’t matter whether they ask for your ABN or not. The ATO requires you to pay tax on all of your business income, and if you are registered for GST then you will pay GST on all of your income as well. – Jess
Hi Jess,
Is it possible to claim for multiple cars using multiple deduction methods? For example, my main car I have completed a log book for. I recently bought another car, can I then claim cents per km on that? If I’m doing a lot of driving, should I complete a log book for the 2nd car just in case it’s worthwhile?
What if also I sell one car, can I still claim on it?
Thanks in advance
Hi Jay, great question. Yes you can. You can use different methods for each, one logbook and one cpkm. If you want to use the logbook method for both of them, you will need one logbook for each vehicle. Make sure to keep expense records for fuel and running costs separately for each car. For example if one car is cpkm then you can’t claim that car’s fuel, or if they’re both on logbook then you need apply the correct logbook to each car’s expenses. – Jess
Hi jess I driver Uber Eats full time can I claim all my mileage if I keep a log book and what do I need to record
Hi John, if you hop over to my blog post on Tax Deduction for Uber Drivers I explain all about how to keep a logbook, I think it will answer your question! – Jess
hi jess,
I Have earned some income from uber eats (delivery only) for several months in the last financial year.
could you please advise me on which income item I should declare gross income on uber eats
and i want to claim on uber service fee and Km’s as well.
Hi Shey, your Uber income and expenses must be declared in the business schedule of your tax return. If you’re looking for assistance with this, you may like to consider our Understanding Uber Taxes course. It includes a detailed video tutorial that takes you through how to lodge your tax return on MyGov step-by-step. You can read more here. – Jess
Hi Jess, I am going to start delivering uber eats with a car. i have an ABN and am not registered for GST. will i need to prepare quartley BAS statements? or do i just put aside some money for tax and pay this at the end of the year?
Hi Rochelle, BAS’s are only for people who are registered for GST. So since you’re only doing food delivery, that means you don’t have to register for GST, which means no BAS’s. You just need to save for your end of year tax bill and that’s all. – Jess
Hi Jess, am I able to start delivering food without having an ABN yet? What happens if I already drove for some months with uber eats without having an ABN and I’m still under 18.200$ earnings and I won’t drive again? Do is still need to make a tax return? I am delivering by bicycle, how am I able to show off that I only use my bike for work/delivering because I would like to put it in my expanses. When I start now, when will I have to make my Tax return. Thanks a lot!
Hi Yahhik, if you earn more than $1 from food delivery, you must get an ABN and you must lodge a tax return. This is true even if you earn under $18,200. If you earn more than $1 then you must get an ABN and lodge a tax return. YOu must keep a record of the expenses you want to claim. The blog post above explains how, and you can find more information in our blog post on Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers (all the rules besides GST apply to food delivery drivers and riders too). – Jess
Thanks for your reply. Does that all also count for Working Holiday makers? Do they have the same requirements as Australian citizens? Or do they differ?
Hi Yannik, yes that correct, it’s the same rules for everyone who earns money in Australia. – Jess
Hi Jess, I have read that People who work with the Visa subclass 417 (Working Holiday Visa) have to pay 15% taxes even if earn less than 18.200$ but the margin goes up to 34.000$ or something with the 15%. Is that correct? Cause I’ve seen it on the ATO website. Because then you would earn much less with uber eats than e.g. Australians, is that true?
Hi Yannik, yes that is correct. You can find all the details on the ATO’s Working Holiday Maker Tax information page. – Jess
Hi Jess, I have an ABN for more than 10 years. The retail business under the company with that ABN was closed last year. Can I still use this same ABN for my current ubereats only to declare my tax return? If I am thinking doing Uber X in the future, does that make any different using the same ABN or new? Thanks
Hi Terry, yes you can, and in fact you must, use the same ABN. The ATO gives us only one ABN to use for our lifetimes and for any and all business ventures, you cannot get a new or different one. If you choose to start driving for Uber X then you will register your existing ABN for GST. – Jess
Thanks Jess for your quick response.
Hello Jess..
Im A student here in Australia… I have 20 hours working limitation as a a student..
Can I work as ubereats as my partime job?
What tax i need to apply and were
Hiloping for you to help me
Hi Monique, I’m sorry I can’t comment on immigration rules, it’s a completely separate area to tax law, and not my specialisation. When you’re ready to start you can download our free Uber Tax Info Pack, which includes our free ABN application service. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I am student and I work in Uber eat as part time. I started my job last August. I earn less than 18,000 per year ( I earned near 10,000 last year). I have not any ABN and I did not know about that until I came across this website. I was wondering if you advice me. If I register ABN, should I pay declare my last year (considering I earn near 10,000)?
Hi Shahin, you must get an ABN and you can backdate it to when you started driving. You can do this through our free ABN Application service. You must declare your UberEats income in your tax return. Normally if your total income is below $18,200 and you didn’t have any tax withheld then you don’t have to lodge a tax return. BUT if you had an ABN then the rule is different. If you earned $1 or more from a business then you MUST lodge a tax return no matter how much you earned, even if you are below the $18,200 tax-free threshold. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I bought a used car for 25,000 in early April 2019 and now intend to work as a Ubereats driver. My car will be due for registration renewal in mid June 2019. My questions are
1. Do I need to register my car for commercial use. It is currently registered for private use.
2. If I start Ubereats before I renew my car registration, can I claim tax deduction in the financial year 2018/19 return for the registration fee and third party insurance.
3. I have already paid comprehensive car insurance in early April 2019, can I claim tax deduction as well?
4. How much can I claim for the purchase price of the car for tax deduction? Can I claim the write off amount (25,000 minus the 2 month depreciation, say net of 24,000)? Or can I choose the year by year depreciation instead? (I.e. 15/100, 30/100 etc)
Hi Danny. You can only claim expenses if you have an ABN and are running a business at the time you incur the expense. So you can claim expenses after the date you start UberEats/activate your ABN, but you can’t claim expenses before that date. Regarding the registration, the ATO doesn’t require a commercial registration in order to claim a deduction, but you will still need to check with Uber and with your state’s road authority as to whether they require you to have a commercial registration. Regarding depreciation, claiming the write-off is optional, you can choose to apply small business depreciation rules (15% first year, 30% subsequent years) instead. – Jess
Hi Jess
If currently the only income is Uber, would taking on a second rideshare company (ie, Ola) at the same time be considered as a second job for tax purposes?
Hi Rob, the ‘second job tax’ is actually a complete myth. All your income, whether from multiple rideshare companies, multiple employee jobs, or a combination of both, is all added together and taxed at your marginal tax rate. It’s only because of the way employee tax withholding works that it sometimes seems like a second job is taxed higher. Actually it just gets a little more tax withheld, in your end of year tax return all your income is just added together and taxed as one. So for multiple rideshare companies it’s the same, they are all just added together and you are taxed on the total income. – Jess
Hey, i am. Student working with uber eats delivery. I have visa conditions to work for 20 hours weekly which i am. Does abn allow to work more hours.?
Hi Rohit, I’m sorry I can’t advise on visa rules, this isn’t an area I have knowledge in. You will need to chat to the immigration department. – Jess
I really learnt a lot from your article.
I recently started Uber eats, and I feel lodging at the end of financial year is a long time to go. Can I lodge it every three months?
Hi James, no unfortunately not. You can only lodge your tax return once a year, there is no option to lodge quarterly. The quarterly option only exists for GST for rideshare drivers. If you feel like it’s a long time for your tax bill to accumulate, you might like to set up a savings account to make regular deposits. That when you get the annual tax bill you will already have done some of the saving. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I am driving Uber X and my ABN & GST is active, now i am working as sub contractor (with ABN) in Pizza shop as Kitchen hand and delivery driver. From your comments i do understand that i have to pay GST if i am doing rideshare. Will u pls explain how i will claim my salary as sub-contractor in BAS…Thanks
Hi Hary, if you are GST registered and you have other income on your ABN as well, you must pay GST on that other income too. This is because your GST registration applies to your whole ABN, not just to Uber. So unfortunately this is a down-side to driving Uber if you already have other ABN income. It will be up to you to decide if it is worth it for you. – Jess
Hi jess really helpful article.
However i have a question regarding GST.
I currently work as a fifo so my salary there is over $75kau per annum but i would like to deliver uber eats in my off time more as a reason get out and about on my motorbike and explore Perth and its surroundings. I have just got an ABN specifically for this.
So my earnings through uber eats will be very low and infrequent, do i still need to be registered for gst and will doing so affect my normal salary? Or is just having and abn sufficient as long as declare my uber eats earnings at tax time?
Many thanks
Jack
Hi Jack, your employee salary is not included in the $75k GST Registration threshold. So it sounds like you will definitely be under the threshold, and therefore as long as you only drive for UberEats/do food delivery you do not have to register for GST. (On the other hand, if you earn even just $1 from ridesharing you must register for GST.) – Jess
Hello Jess,
I was hoping you could help me out with some advice,
I have just signed up for uber eats making roughly $300 a week by my car doing only uber eats.
However with my full time job I also receive a car allowance.
I have already done a log book from last years travels. What do I need to do.
Thank you for your time.
Hi Ben, the only thing you need to do is scrap the old logbook and start a new one. Your old logbook percentage for your full time job is now invalid because your pattern of usage has changed, and of course you also need to find out what your percentage is for UberEats as well. So you’ll need a new logbook to reflect both your new UberEats travel and also your changed work travel percentage. Your car allowance will continue to be included in your taxable income as it has been before, no change there. – Jess
Jess, how are you??
I use a motorcycle to do delivery but it is in my wife name, is there any problem if I use it for my tax deduction?
I am also in Melbourne if you could meet you keep in touch I will apresentar it once I have a lot of doubts about it.
Thank yoy
Hi Laurenco, the ATO understands that sometimes spouses register their assets or pay expenses from each other’s names, so it’s no problem, you can still claim a deduction. (Note that the rules can be different for GST for assets over $1,000, but I see you’re a food delivery driver so this doesn’t apply to you). To answer your other question, we don’t have physical offices, DriveTax is a 100% online accounting firm, so feel free to contact via email anytime. – Jess
Dear Jess,
I have been worked as a food delivery driver with Menulog since April 2017 registered under a ABN along with the newspaper delivered job which registered under my TFN . To be honest I had no idea about we have to do this much work for paying tax in Australia as I am a overseas student so this is a really confused task for me now. As far as I understand, I think I am in trouble with the tax officer as I only reported my income from the paper delivered job while didn’t report my income taxes by 30 October 2018. Is there any advice on my situation? Thank you!
Hi Duy, I know it’s so much work to learn the tax system of a new country! I see you submitted an Express Tax form with us, so I’ll be able to give you more detailed information shortly. But to put your mind at ease for now, it’s fine to lodge your tax return later if you use a Tax Agent like DriveTax, you have until the 15th of May, so you’re not late at all. Also, if you already lodged a tax return that was incorrect that’s no problem, we’ll lodge an ‘Amendment’ to replace the original return. I’ll be in touch via email shortly. – Jess
I want to start uber eats delivery driving. I was thinking of buying a seperate small cheap car to do the deliveries in and to reduce fuel costs and to make it easier to claim for tax. I was wondering if 100% of expenses related to the car were reimbursed at tax time and also what if my earnings were just $2000 for uber eats but car running costs such as rego servicing etc exceeded $2000 lets just say it was $3000 will the ATO reimburse money higher than what was earnt?
Hi Nathan, it’s important to note that a tax deduction is not like a reimbursement, you don’t get all the money back. For example, if your income was $1,000 you would have to pay tax on that at your marginal tax rate, lets say 34.5%. If you have a tax deduction of $300, now you only have to pay tax on $700 at 34.5%. This means you have saved yourself $300 x 34.5% = $103. So in other words, for your $300 expense you get back $103 from the ATO.
If you make a loss (i.e. expenses are more than income) on your UberEats you cannot claim that loss (and assuming your gross income is under $20,000, there are different rules if you earn more than this), instead the loss is carried forward and you can use it to cancel out taxable profits on your UberEats income in future years. – Jess
Hi All,
I have recently started UberEats delivery . I have registered myself for ABN under uber as well. It is already clear from the above comments that i dont have to pay GST unless my income is $75000 per annum. I am not working on any other TFN job.
So am I preparing BAS statements quarterly???
Or just pay my ABN tax on gross income i earned in a year from uber eats during financial year period at once only.
Or pay ABN tax every 3 months or what ..???
Hi, If you are not registered for GST then you do not have to lodge BAS’s. You only have to pay income tax on your end of year tax return. BAS’s are only for people who are registered for GST. I recommend checking out our post on the Seven Steps to Sorting your Uber Tax Obligations. The GST section will not apply to you but it will explain the difference of lodging the two different types of tax and how they are lodged. – Jess
Hi…I got lots of information from your articles. Thank you. I got one question on taxable income. The payment summary from ubereats got three section.
1. Gross uber trips fares
2. Referral/ incentives
3. Uber trips services fees.
Is referral/ incentives taxable or only gross uber trips fares.
Hi Gems, the gross uber fares and referrals/incentives are both taxable income, and the the Uber service fees are a tax deductions. – Jess
Hi Jess,
1. I bought a new car for $50000 and I am using it for Uber eats most of the time (70% when calculated with logbook). How much depreciation expense could I claim at the end of the financial year for one full year??
2. I bought the car on a loan. Am I able to claim any expense from the EMI’s I am paying such as interest??
3. Can I claim the Car wash expense?? I spend around $10 every week on it and I won’t be having any invoice. If so, how do I note it down??
4. Can I show Car insurance($180/month) as an expense??
Thank you
Hi San. 1) I cannot provide tax calculations here. You can find depreciation rules on the ATO website here, and of course we will do this calculation for you as part of doing your tax return. 2) You cannot claim the principal of the repayments, because that’s the cost of the car which we claim as depreciation, but you can claim the interest. Note there is no GST, so rideshare drivers cannot claim interest on their BAS, only their end of year tax return. 3) and 4) You can find the answers to these in our blog post on Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers. Although it’s written more for rideshare drivers almost all of it applies to food delivery drivers too. – Jess
Hi Jess,
Thank you so much for the article. I am an Ubereats driver and need to file my tax for the 2017-18 Financial Year. Can I avail your services?
Thanks
Hi Sinu. Absolutely, you can find all the information about having your tax return lodged on our Tax Services page. – Jess
Hi Jess,
Great job. I’ve just found your site and really enjoyed reading through the comments. Thank you very much for the service.
I just read that ATO doesn’t care whether you paying private or business insurance, but you still can claim for it.
I’m an Ubereats driver and I had an accident last month going to work. I have an ABN by the way and I had to pay $2,000.00 for access.
Can I claim it on tax?
Also, with the GPS can I claim on my monthly recharge?
HI Ross, thanks very much! Yes you can claim a tax deduction for the insurance excess, however if the car is written off and you receive a payout you will be required to pay income tax on that amount. Yes if you have costs for a GPS you can claim a deduction. – Jess
Hi. Thank you for sharing some really invaluable information here. I have a full time job paying a taxable salary of $45,662. I have just started doing UberEats and I am roughly earning around $600/month (excluding fuel and car related expenses). Do I need to file a separate return for my ubereats income or one return including income from both the jobs? Also, how much tax would I end up paying after filing the return or would I not pay anything at all keeping in mind the tax deductions for fuel, insurance, rego etc? Your advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Talha, all of your taxable income is declared in one tax return. You will enter your employee income as normal, and then fill in the Business Schedule to declare your UberEats income. For more information on how much tax you’ll pay check out or blog post on How Much You’ll Actually Make Driving For Uber. – Jess
Hi,
I’m lodging my tax returns for the year and need Uber Eats’ ABN to do it. Its not mentioned on the weekly, monthly or yearly payment summaries. How can i get Uber’s ABN?
Hi Uzair, Uber’s ABN isn’t required for the tax return, so I don’t know it. I think you might be entering your income in the wrong section of the tax return, because it doesn’t ask for that information. You should be using the business schedule, all the item numbers begin with P. You will only need your ABN, not Ubers. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I am registered for both Uber and Ubereats, however I did not do any rideshare services in the last quarter but only made about 6 deliveries, am I still required to lodge a BAS? Can I call the ATO to report Nil earnings.
Kind regards
Tony
Hi Tony, once you are registered for GST you must pay GST on ALL of your income, including UberEats. So you must still lodge a BAS and declare that UberEats income. – Jess
hai jess today i did a tax for my ubereat in the tax agent, but he told me to register the GST, and he did for me, then i see here i dont have to register for GST, so what sould i do to cancel the GST ? is that ok to camcel it ? tanks
Hi Putu, yes, if you only did food delivery and not rideshare driving then the tax agent was incorrect. I would suggest going back to them and asking them to cancel the registration for you, or you can just call the ATO to do this yourself. – Jess
Hi Jess, I work for my employer and I need to drive to visit clients frequently therefore, I want to claim 5000km cent per km method as a work-related car expenses. At the same time I drove UberEATS and earned just under $400 in 2018 f.y. Should I have to split up the claim from 5000km between work-related car expenses and business schedule. Or Can I also claim car expenses like fuel and running costs in the business schedule for UberEATS.
Hi Amar, you must use either the logbook method (i.e. claiming fuel and running costs) or the cents per km method for your whole tax return, you can’t use one for employment expenses and the other for the business schedule. If you choose the cpkm method you can only claim 5,000km per car for your whole tax return. It’s up to you whether you want to allocate some of the kms to your business schedule or just claim them all as employment deductions. – Jess
Hi i been doing uber eats using both my motorbike and car. Can i claim for purchasing helmet, bike jacket and other related items that i needed when using my bike for deliveries?
Hi Khadija, great question. You can only claim for items that protect your safety, but I think your bike jacket would qualify, and definitely your helmet of course. You can’t claim for normal denim jeans or any other ‘normal clothing’, only protective gear. Note that if you also use your motorbike for private use then you can only claim a percentage of the protective gear too. So if your bike is 30% Uber then you can also only claim 30% of any protective gear you buy. – Jess
Hi jess
I have a small question, i am a uber eats bicycle rider, i have to pay tax? Or any ABN ?
Hi Abdul, yes, everyone who earns even just $1 from delivering must have an ABN and declare the income in their tax return. It doesn’t matter if you are bicycle, motorcycle or car. All of the information is in the article above. – Jess
Hi Jess
With ubereats I understand we have to keep a record of uber statement and I can see there are various statements available and I am confused which one is to keep.
Thanks in advance
Hi Jaydeep, the report we need is the monthly summary. Previously Uber had these in the Tax Summaries section of your Uber account, but this may have changed. You don’t need to keep them as you go, Uber will retain them in your account for you to access anytime. – Jess
Thanks Jess,
So the full cost of buying the motorcycle and bike will be reimbursed to me? What about the fuel and other accessories?
Thank you!
-Tony
Hi Tony, no, a tax deduction does not mean you get all the money back, it only reduces your taxable income. Your tax saving is equal to the amount of the tax deduction (the cost of the bike and motorcycle) multiplied by your marginal tax rate. So if your marginal tax rate is 19% you will get 19% of the cost back. The same is true for fuel and other costs. And of course all deductions are subject to your business use percentage. Check out our blog post on Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers for more information. – Jess
Hi Jess,
So last February I purchased a bike solely for ubereats (99% business purpose) delivery. Now, I realised that riding motorcycle for ubereats is better. With tihs, if I am going to buy a new motorcycle, will i be able to get the whole cost of my bicycle as tax deduction and how much can I get as tax deduction for the new motorcycle?
Regards,
Tony
Hi Tony, it is still fine to claim the tax deduction for your bicycle as well as the motorcycle. For the motorcycle, a formal logbook is not required, technically you may keep any kind of diary or records to show the percentage of business/private use. However we still recommend that a logbook is the best option. The cost of both the bicycle and motorcycle can be claimed up front if they are under $20,000, but you must apply the business/private use percentage to your claim. – Jess
Hi jess,
I already have ABN but not GST registered. I am driving for UberX ridesharing. How to register for GST. Can you please advise me how to do it.
Thank you
Sumanth
Hi Sumanth, here is a link to our GST Registration service – Jess
Thanks jess for the information. I already submitted the form. How many days will it take to get just ABN number not GST registration
Hi Sravan, our processing time us usually two business days. I think your order has already been processed and sent to you! – Jess
Hi jess,
I am working in a warehouse on TFN and earns between 40-45k annually. I also started ubereats just a month back for extra income. I don’t have an ABN at present but I already started doing trips for ubereats. By reading the posts above I understood that we can backdate the earnings in ABN. My question is Is it compulsory to have an ABN for uber eats and should I declare that income at the time of tax.
Thankyou
Hi Sravan, Yes if you earn any money at all from UberEats you must have an ABN, and you must declare that income to the ATO on your end of year tax return. Head to our ABN Registration form anytime to get your ABN for free. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I just want to ask if which of your services do i need to avail If i have 3 jobs? I am working with ubereats using a bicycle and I also have 2 other jobs.
Also, does the 12 weeks log also apply with bikes?
Thanks!
Hi Jason, if you’re driving/riding for UberEats only and not doing rideshare then your only obligation is to declare your food delivery income on your end of year tax return. All of our tax services include all of your income from all jobs. A logbook is not needed for bicycles, you just need to estimate your business use percentage. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I registered for an ABN and also registered for GST with the plan to do UberX. Since my car doesn’t seem to meet the requirments, I am more than happy to do UberEats as a delivery driver which I will make well under $75k and my other income is PAYG and non ABN related. If I do not de-register myself for GST will this affect anything and is it claimable back if I have overpaid?
Hi Tony, although as an UberEats driver you don’t have to register, if you do register anyway you must pay GST on your UberEats income. To put it another way, anyone who is registered for GST must pay GST on all of their ABN income. You should consider cancelling your GST registration back from the date you registered so that you don’t have to pay GST on any of your UberEats income. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I heard that from December 2017, UberEats drivers also have to pay GST as they changed the policy. And according to my uber partner profile, I see the GST breakdown on my December tax summary. Does it means we have to register for GST for ubereats as well? Thank you for your time.
Hi Min, UberEats drivers do not have to register for GST, nothing has changed there. What has changed is that Uber are now charging GST on their service fees from the 1st of December. Unfortunately this means the price has gone up a little, but that’s the only difference. Now Uber fees will be just like most of your other expenses, fuel, mobile phone etc. They all have GST charged on them as well, but this doesn’t matter to you because you’re not registered for GST, you just claim the total price as a tax deduction at the end of the year. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I started Uber Eats in October 2017 and just applied for ABN wef October 2017. Am I required to file BAS for the last quarter? I haven’t maintained any log book but have the uber partner statement on kms driven. On GST part, it’s clear as per your article that delivery partners don’t need GST till the time income is less than 75k. Thanks. Jitin.
Hi Jitin, you only have to lodge a BAS if you are registered for GST. If you are not registered for GST then you do not need to lodge a BAS. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I’ve gone through all your post, it has been so useful! Thanks a lot for helping all of us :)
I have a question, my boyfriend is using my car to do uber eat. We are sharing the expenses, although payment often come from my account, and he would transfer me. Can he claim these expenses, if I give him a print of my account?
Thank you!
Sandra
Hi Sandra, the ATO understands that partners/spouses often share vehicles, so that’s no problem. You will need to keep records of ALL the car’s running costs (fuel, rego, insurance etc), including your use and his private use. Then he will need to keep a logbook to prove to the ATO what percentage the car is used for UberEats. He will then claim that percentage of the car’s total running costs in his tax return. See our blog post on Tax Deductions for Uber Drivers for more tips on keeping a logbook. – Jess
Hi! I deliver for both ubereats and deliveroo. For deliveroo abn was required but not for ubereats. Since I receive income from both companies, should I treat my delivery business as two different enterprises ?
Hi Ed, the ATO will only give you one ABN for your whole lifetime, and you must use this for both business activities. Even if one of the companies doesn’t ask you for your ABN, you must still have it as an ATO requirement. The ATO requires you to fill this in as one activity in your end of year tax return, but this will be much easier for you anyway, it gets really difficult to separate your car expenses for the two different companies, much easier to just treat them as one. – Jess
Hi Jess,
I roughly counted if it would be better for me to use logbook or cents per kilometre method and it will be approximately the same result, so I decided use cents per kilometre method because its easier. I want to ask, if I need any type of records (milage, fuel receipts, etc) to apply this method? Thank you
Hi Veronika, there are no specific requirements on keeping records for the cpkm method. Your total kms can be based on a ‘reasonable estimate’ but you need to be able to show how you worked that out. So for example you may estimate that you drive 200km/wk for UberEats (perhaps keep notes for a week or two to confirm, or refer to your Uber records if they show this), and you drove for 20 weeks of the financial year (easy to prove by your Uber income), and so you can claim 4,000km. – Jess
Hello I am Ubereats rider bicycle how I need to pay my tax when doing Ubereats.
Hi Norleyana, you’d find all of this information in the blog post above, it all applies to bicycle, motorbike and car drivers. – Jess
Hello Jess!
This webpage is the best to get all informations we need :)
I am working full time for a company using my ABN.
I want to work with deliveroo during my spare time, maybe 4h a week. But I will use my bike only for deliveroo.
If I have some repairs, equipment or the cost of the bike, should I consider all expenses at 100% of the initial price?
Or if they consider that a working week is 40h and I use my bike only 4h, I should declare 10% of my expenses ?
Thank you so much
Hi David, thanks for the great feedback. The tax deduction is based on what percentage you use the bike, not the percentage of your own time. So if the bike is used 100% for Deliveroo with no personal use then you can claim 100% of related expenses. – Jess
Hello Jess
I do have job make me 350$ a week and I do UBEREAT (bicycle registered, but usually I use motor bike instead)that make around 200$ a week. How can I declare to ATO and how much I pay for them?
Hi Chavanun, I’m sorry I can’t give you personal tax advice. This article explains how to declare your income and pay your tax to the ATO. If you would like a personal calculation of your projected tax liability please consider our 6-month unlimited email tax support program. – Jess
Hi Jess,
Thanks for your article it is awesome!!!
I’ve got a question. I’m doing ubereats only and uber is doing the invoices on my behalf, the thing is that they are charging 10% GST on my behalf to the restaurants per my delivery fees.
I.e a delivery invoice made from Maccas said…
Total net $ 15.04
Total GST amount $1.50
Gross amount $16.54 (this is the amount that they pay to me)
My invoices say that I have not provided a ABN and when I called uber they said that I don’t need ABN because I’m doing ubereats only. I said I wanted to use my ABN but every time that I tried to provided through the uberdriver app I need to agreed that I’m register for GST as well.
Is this correct?
I don’t need to provide my ABN as uber says?
Is ok that uber charge GST on my behalf?
Thank you very much for your help in advance
Hi Neell, this is very interesting to me. If you are not registered for GST then the invoice they are providing to restaurants on your behalf would be incorrect. I wonder if there is some fine print on the invoice that says that the GST only applies if the driver is registered for GST?? Feel free to email me a copy of the invoice, I’d be curious to take a look for you. Thanks! – Jess
Hi Jess, I have just signed for Uber eats bicycle and I have a few questions. Do I need an ABN right away? if yes, what happens if I don’t provide one for a while and continue to do deliveries? will I be taxed on each payroll I get? and how much? Thank You so much, hope to hear from you soon!!
Hi Zulfo, Your ABN must be registered back to the first day you start driving for Uber. If you have already started driving that’s okay, you can backdate the ABN application back to your Uber start date. You’ll be taxed on all of your Uber income from the day you started driving at your marginal tax rate. – Jess
Thank You lots Jess, a very helpful article.
Hi Jess,
Great website!! I have found it extremely informative and will use your service for my tax return come July.
I have a job paying $75,000pa and am also doing food deliveries with UberEATS a few nights a week on my motorbike. I’m keeping aside 35% of my Uber earnings each week for tax. I’m keeping fuel receipts and records of my km’s ridden. Should I be changing my insurance and registration to business and personal rather than just personal? Will that affect what I can claim as deductions?
Also, apart from putting aside money, keeping fuel receipts and recording km’s, is there anything else I should be doing?
I have a loan for my bike, am I able to claim anything from that even though it’s listed as a personal use bike?
Thank you Jess, I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Ben
Hi Ben, it sounds like you’ve got everything under control! It doesn’t matter to the ATO whether your insurance is business or private, they will allow a deduction either way. So it’s only a matter of making sure your insurance is correctly set up so your insurance company will cover you. Your interest on the bike can be claimed too, and the same rule applies, the ATO doesn’t care whether it’s listed for business or private use, it will be deductible either way. – Jess
Hi Ben,
I have the same scenario as you. Just wanted to know if you have ABN registered for Uber eats and the other job you are doing is on TFN ? If yes, then do you pay 33% tax on your income from driving ?
Thanks
Reema
Hi Reema, no, all of your tax is taxed at your marginal tax rates, even if you have two jobs. Jump over to our blog post Uber Tax Explained for more information. – Jess
Hi Jess,
Thanks for the article, it’s actually really helpful. However I still have some enquiries about the tax.
1. Firstly, I applied for TFN early this year (Probably February). However, I didn’t work at all and I also didn’t sumit a non-lodgement form. Do I need to do it actually?
2. I signed up for Ubereats rider on February this year. I did only two trips until now. However, I didn’t know we need to have an ABN(so I don’t have it for now as well) for that so I didn’t declare the income (Which is less than $20). I just updated my Uber acc from bike rider to car delivery recently and I haven’t started to do the delivery yet since I am so confused with the income tax stuff. What should I do now?
3. And for ABN, does it mean that if our income is below $18k in that year, we won’t have to pay any tax but need to sumit the non-lodgement form? Non-lodgement form is for TFN or ABN?
Apart from this, I don’t have any income at all.
Hope you can help me with this
Thanks.
Richard
Hi Richard,
All riders and drivers must have a TFN and an ABN. If you earn any money at all on an ABN, even just $1, you must lodge a proper tax return and declare your income and expenses, even if you will be below the tax-free threshold. You are not eligible for a non-lodgment form if you earned any business income. I understand that it’s frustrating when you had such a small amount of income, but the ATO is clear on this rule. If you didn’t apply for an ABN we can do this for you for free and backdate it to your Uber start date for you. – Jess
hi Jess
i have a question. I’m driving with uber eats and I had around $18k income last 6 months. I’v been working as contractor of star track last 3 months but income is not big. My question is do i need to pay tax on my uber eats income? I understood that I’m not going to pay GST. But what about ABN.
Hi Jose,
You always have to declare all income you earn. If your total taxable income for the whole financial year for all of your jobs is below $18k then you will be below the tax-free threshold so your tax rate will be 0%. But you must declare the income in your tax return to see what the tax rate is. – Jess
Hi, thanks for the article, but I still have a dubt.
I’m only delivering with uber eats and i earn less than 75,000, I have only ABN, plus i have a casul work (without ABN) so my question is: I need to register for GST?
Thanks
Hi Frank, if you are not rideshare driving and you will not earn more than $75k on your ABN then you do not have to register for GST. – Jess
Hii Jess, im an international student working for ubereats only and on a rental scooter. So according to the article i guess i am not liable to pay the gst right? If i have to pay Gst then can u please tell me the rate of Gst i will be liable to pay and if i can claim the rent amount of the scooter i pay each week for deductions?
Thank you
Hi Parikshit,
You don’t have to pay GST, but you do have to pay income tax on your end of year tax return. You will be able to claim your scooter rental as deduction. I suggest checking out our blog post on tax deductions for rideshare drivers, as most of the deductions are the same for food delivery drivers. – Jess
Hi Jess
Thanks for writing this article its been really helpful! I am a foodora driver and have a small second business that has meant i am registered for gst. However foodora dont include gst on my invoices from them. Should i request my invoices include gst? Surely a large company like foodora is set up for gst?
Many thanks
Jay
Hi Jay,
The GST has nothing to do with Foodora. YOU are registered for GST, therefore you must pay GST on everything you earn, regardless of who you earned it from.
In terms of the invoice, you first need to remember it’s actually you invoicing them for your time, but they take care of this paperwork for you. Given that most drivers are not registered for GST but a few, such as you, are registered, technically they should have a statement on the invoice that says something like ‘GST is included in this price if applicable’, or something to that effect. If it doesn’t, it means that the invoices they generate are technically incorrect, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are a GST registered business and must pay GST on all your income.
Foodora’s GST status becomes relevant only when you’re claiming their fees. If they’re an Australian company they’ll be GST registered, which means you can claim GST on any commissions or fees they charge you. Or if they’re a foreign company the won’t be charging GST which means there’s nothing for you to claim back.
I hope this makes sense! – Jess
Hi Jess,
Your article was really enlightening and it clears all the confusion I had about GST. Thanks for the wonderful article.
Just a quick question about tax claim, can a ubereats rider who is an international student can claim medicare levy? If yes, then how much he can claim?
Thanks again.
HI Arsalan,
Thanks for the great feedback. The Medicare Levy is not something you claim, it is something you pay! This depends on what country you are from plus a few other factors, so I can’t really answer for you here. Please contact us if you would like personalised advice. Thanks! – Jess
Hi Jess,
Your article and the Q& A section made me much more clear. In my case, I am going to start Ubereats from next week. I am registered as a bike rider. However, I am doing deliveries via car. I cannot upgrade to car because I have international license. Can I claim car expenses in my business schedule for ubereats?
Thank you.
Regards,
Amar
Hi Amar,
I’m glad you’ve found us helpful! I’m not sure I understand your question, I think you’re asking if you can still claim car expenses even if on your UberEats account you are a bike rider. The answer to this is yes, the ATO don’t care about your account or registration with UberEats. If you spent money as part of earning your income then it will generally be tax deductible regardless of the arrangement between you and UberEats. I hope this is what you wanted to know! – Jess
Oh wow! that’s awesome. Thank you very much Jess.
Hi Jess,
I have a full time job with the annual income of ~80 k and I am getting fortnightly salary under my TFN and a PAYG was always generated from my employed. Please, be advised that a certain amount of tax has always been deducted and kept in my PAYG what I claim at the end of my economic year and get the partial refund. Recently, I started working on UberEats for some extra income due to my new mortgage. Now my question is, if I earn ~12 k from UberEats (Under ABN) and 80 k (Under TFN) from my current employer, how my tax assessment will be conducted under this circumstance? Your kind help will be highly appreciated.
Cheers!
Patrick
HI Patrick,
I can’t give personalised advice, but speaking in general terms if you already have taxable income of $80k, then any additional income will fall into the following tax brackets: $37k-$87k – 34.5%, $87k-$180k – 39% (these rates include the medicare levy). In other words the first $7k of net income (after expenses) beyond $80k would be taxed at 34.5%, and income beyond that would be taxed at 39%. – Jess
Hi Jess
I drove UberX for few timesand earned $2,800 in a year plus 25,000 from other jobs like Security & Cleaning Services.Do i need to pay GST on all my income
Hi Sandy,
You only need to pay GST on your ABN income. If your security & cleaning income was as an employee under your TFN then you don’t need to pay GST. If any of that work was as a contractor under your ABN then you will have to pay GST for the time you were registered for GST.
– Jess
Hi Jess
what if i bought my bike off gumtree and i paid cash for it
i’m still eligible for tax deduction for my bike?
thanks.
Hi Hoang,
You can still claim a deduction for the bike if you can provide provide a paper trail of how much you paid, such as the Gumtree ad, or a written receipt. You’ll be required to estimate the percentage you use the bike for UberEats vs private use. If you don’t have any records then you cannot claim a deduction.
– Jess
Hi jess, excellent article on gst and tax. I’ve a question. I was driving uber x until last month but now I have started ubereats and not doing any Ridesharing at the moment. like you have explained I’ve to pay gst on both uberx and ubereats for this quarter( July-sep) as there is income from both rideshare and delivery . Now I’m not going to do any Ridesharing anymore so am I exempt from paying gst from next quarter as there would be not rideshare income. Thank you
Hi Khan,
If you are registered for GST then you must pay GST on all your income, even if you didn’t drive for UberX. The ATO just looks at your registration, it doesn’t matter where you earned the money. The only way to avoid paying GST is to deregister for GST, and you can only do that if you won’t be driving for UberX anymore. – Jess
Im helping my daughter complete her tax return and she has been doing ubereats delivery on her bike. We aren’t sure where to put these income and deduction amounts in the tax return. ….. is this in the sole trader part – or somewhere else? She has no deductions to claim as she paid cash for her bike from Gumtree. We aren’t talking about big amounts, but we still want to do the right thing!!
Hi Nicole,
Yes you’re right, it must be entered in the sole trader area. The easiest way is to refer to your Monthly Statements, which you can download from her Uber account in the Tax Summaries section. All of the Gross Income items should be entered as income, and the Uber Fees claimed as an expense. I hope this helps! – Jess
Jess,
Thanks a ton for writing the Getting Started Guide for Uber & Food Delivery.
Things really get confusing when people drive the taxi as well deliver the food. But your post nails it.
I just shared this post to one on one of my Whatsapp group.
Thanks,
Mike
Thanks for the awesome feedback Mike!
Hi Jess
I am not a permanent resident anymore, but I need to pay taxes on my UberEats earnings. How can I get an ABN? I cannot fill in your form to get one for free because I don’t live in Australia. Thank you!
Hi Simone,
You can still go ahead and order, that’s no problem. If you were a resident at the time you were driving then please select resident in the form and we’ll sort it out from there.
Jess
Hi jess,
I’m very confused with Tax but after reading your article i don’t have any question about GST because you explained exceptionally very well.
Just a questiom as a UBEREATES driver that
What is the tax bracket for us.
Is the tax bracket will remain same either i work on ABN or TFN.
If i earn 40000 $ in financial year still i need to pay tax as i WORK on ABN.
THANKS
Hi Yasir,
Once your UberEats profit (income minus expenses) has been calculated, this is added to the rest of your taxable income (employment, investments, centrelink etc) and all of that income is taxed at the normal marginal tax rates. You can see the tax rates here. So you can see that the tax you pay on your UberEats profit will depend on how much you earn from employment and other income. – Jess
Hi Jess, I am a food delivery rider working for Uber, using my bicycle. I just received a letter from ATO which says that they believe I’m providing ride-sourcing services and it is a taxi travel under GST law. They also say that I need to register for GST. What should I do?
Thank you
Hi Valeria, the ATO are wrong about that, if you are just doing food delivery and not ridesharing, then you definitely do not have to register for GST. My guess is that Uber have sent them information about all Uber partners, and they haven’t told the ATO who is rideshare and who is food delivery? You can call the ATO to advise them if you want, or you can just disregard the letter. – Jess
Hi Jess, I started doing deliveries for UberEats only by bicycle. I bought bicycle on gumtree so it means I dont have any receipt. Can I still claim this bike as an business related expense? And also small accessories like new tubes, tyres – do I need to have all receipts from them? Thank you
Hi Veronika,
You can still claim a deduction for the bike, because your Gumtree account and bank account will provide a paper trail of home much you paid. You’ll be required to estimate the percentage you use the bike for UberEats vs private use. You are required to also have some kind of receipt or record (bank statements are fine) for all other transactions. – Jess
Hi!
We should declare the earnings of the bonus like referring people?
Hi Juan, Yes you must declare all money you receive to the ATO. However depending on who you drive for, certain referral payments may not have GST on them. You may need an accountant to advise you. You still must declare them though. Jess
Hi
I am doing Ubereats which means only food delivery. May I know what item I can do tax refund if I use bicycle to work? Like bicycle itself, bicycle accessories or bicycle service expenses…
Hi Leong,
You can claim all of the expenses relating to your bicycle, such as repairs and maintenance and accessories. The ATO does not require you to keep a logbook, instead you must make a reasonable estimate of the percentage your bike is business vs private, and just claim the business percentage.
The cost of your bike itself can be claimed as depreciation, but under current small business simplified depreciation rules you will usually be allowed to write off the whole cost of the bike in the year you bought it. If you owned the bike before you started delivering for UberEats, then we would do a calculation to see how much your bike depreciated in that time of private ownership, and then claim the written down value you when you started using it for business.
Jess