Uber Driver Mileage Log: Maximise Your Tax Deduction
Uber's tax summary only counts your on-trip miles — often half of what you actually drive for the business. Those uncounted miles are the difference between a good deduction and a great one.
For Uber and Lyft drivers, mileage is the deduction that matters most. And the trap is the same for almost everyone: drivers use the mileage number on Uber's annual tax summary, not realising it only counts the miles during active trips. The miles you drive waiting for a request, repositioning to a busy zone, or heading to a pickup — all deductible, all missing from that figure.
Here's how to log it properly and claim what you're owed.
As an independent contractor, you can deduct business miles driven the entire time you're online and available — not just during a fare. That includes driving to a hot zone, to the pickup, the trip itself, and cruising between requests. At 70¢/mile (2025), every extra 1,000 miles you capture is $700 of deduction.
The three phases of rideshare miles
The IRS recognises that rideshare driving has distinct phases, and the deductible portion is broader than just the passenger trip:
| Phase | What it is | Deductible? |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Online, waiting / driving to a busy area | Yes — business miles |
| Phase 2 | Online, en route to pick up a passenger | Yes — business miles |
| Phase 3 | Passenger in the car (on-trip) | Yes — and this is all Uber reports |
| Offline | App off, personal driving, commuting | No — personal |
Uber's summary covers Phase 3. Your own log should cover Phases 1 and 2 as well — that's where the extra deduction lives.
Standard mileage vs actual expenses
You choose one method per vehicle:
- Standard mileage rate — business miles × the IRS rate (70¢ in 2025; check the 2026 figure). Simple, and your log is the documentation. Best for most rideshare drivers.
- Actual expenses — the business-use percentage of fuel, insurance, repairs, depreciation, lease. Better for expensive or thirsty vehicles. More paperwork.
You generally must pick the standard mileage method in the first year you use the car for business if you want the freedom to switch later, so think about it early.
How to log Uber miles
- Record your odometer at the start and end of each driving session, plus Jan 1 and Dec 31 for the annual total.
- Log each shift — date, zones worked, business purpose ("Uber rideshare shift"), and total miles online.
- Capture Phase 1 & 2 miles that Uber omits.
- Reconcile monthly against your Uber summary so you can show the difference is genuine online driving.
Generate a rideshare mileage log free
Built for Uber, Lyft and delivery drivers — captures online waiting and repositioning miles, applies the current rate, and exports an IRS-ready PDF.
A worked example
On-trip miles (Uber summary): 21,000
Actual online business miles logged: 34,000
Extra miles captured: 13,000
Deduction at 70¢ — Uber figure: $14,700
Deduction at 70¢ — your real log: $23,800
Extra deduction: $9,100
At a 22% marginal rate, that's roughly $2,000 in real tax saved — purely from logging the online miles Uber doesn't report.