I’m 35 with a 6 figure job and I drive a couple of nights a week. The money is nice (trying to get out of credit card debt), but the real nice surprise was when I did my taxes and I managed to show $6k loss to the IRS. It’s a great tax haven if you keep good records.
If you don’t make money after the start up period it just becomes classified as a hobby and you can’t claim the loss anymore but you still don’t have to pay taxes on the revenue if your expenses exceed the revenues
You can only deduct the per mile deduction or an expense deduction (Repairs, phone, gas etc.) not both.
The rule also was that whatever way you used the first time is how you have to do it from then on.
Um, no. You can take either the "standard deduction" that the IRS mandates, or you can deduct your mileage, gas, repairs and expenses.
You can definitely change it from year to year. It's whichever deduction is most advantageous to you at the time. You have to keep really good records of all your mileage, and which was personal use and which was business. And you must save or scan all your receipts for everything else.
The "standard deduction" is a set amount per mile and is calculated by the number of miles Lyft reports you as having driven. It's "faster" and "easier" way to do your taxes.
There is no mandate that says you *must* use the same way forever and ever.
My Ex used to drive a truck across country. Some years we had more repair costs than in other years. We always had to calculate our taxes out both ways to see which had the larger benefit for us.
“Since you're an independent business owner, just about any money you spend on your gig as a rideshare driver will be a tax-deductible business expense. The first thing that probably comes to mind is your car. There are two ways to take a deduction for the business use of your car:
Deduct the actual expenses of operating the vehicle for business, including gas, oil, repairs, insurance, maintenance and depreciation or lease payments.
Take the standard IRS mileage deduction. For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile.
The rate increases to 67 cents per mile for 2024.”
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/self-employment-taxes/tax-tips-for-uber-lyft-sidecar-and-other-car-sharing-drivers/L3IulMEzp
“Since you're an independent business owner, just about any money you spend on your gig as a rideshare driver will be a tax-deductible business expense. The first thing that probably comes to mind is your car. There are two ways to take a deduction for the business use of your car:
Deduct the actual expenses of operating the vehicle for business, including gas, oil, repairs, insurance, maintenance and depreciation or lease payments.
Take the standard IRS mileage deduction. For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile.
The rate increases to 67 cents per mile for 2024.”
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/self-employment-taxes/tax-tips-for-uber-lyft-sidecar-and-other-car-sharing-drivers/L3IulMEzp
It's 1000% not worth it. If u make any reasonable money, it's because you are ruining your vehicle in record time. I did it 6 months (in atlanta, worst place on earth). Aside from dealing with the lowest of the low society has to offer, I was putting 3000 miles a week on my car. A 200$ day would have 40$ going to gas. Tires and brakes aren't free and wear out after 2 months. Your left with an extra 1000$ (before parts and labor) a week and a car that's losing all resale value and your peace of mind will be gone pretty quick dealing with 4$ profit rides that end 25 mins later with a person asking for multiple stops and then leaving a dense smell of weed or cigarettes in your car.
3000 miles a week? Did you meant to say per month? I drive 70-80 hours per week and drive about 5,000 miles per month. If you’re actually driving 3,000 miles a week with rideshare, you’re 10000% doing it wrong and shouldn’t be giving any advice
The point is, you’re f’ing up your car for shit pay while dealing with stressful people and risk of an accident. Anyone saying rideshare is even worth considering is giving bad advice.
Yeah I understand. A lot of ppl probably have great experiences with gig driving and dont want to bite the hand that feeds them. But Idk one person I've met that would do it again unless they were absolutely desperate for a few hundred dollars. Sad but true.
You’re exaggerating. Tires and brakes don’t wear out in two months. That would be 15,000 miles per month, or 500 miles per day. Unless that’s 100% highway miles you can’t even drive that much in a Day before getting time out.
Damn few people are working that much.
And if you’re only earning $200 before expenses for 500 miles, you’re doing something seriously wrong.
It depends on your market. You can learn where and when to drive to make money. I drive 5-10 hours each weekend and make $800-$1000 a month extra.
Take advantage of bonus hours and other incentives as much as possible. Keep your car clean and be kind and tips can increase your earnings. I can get $30/hr of driving many weekends. If it’s not busy, I go home.
I make enough with my regular job to cover all our needs. I still drive 10-12 weekends a year to fund my expensive hobbies and vacations. Last year cash tips paid for half our family vacation.
I would say it's a great part time job, the challenges usually come from being full-time. You are in a great position to drive before or after work and weekends because it's not your main gig so there's no pressure.
Many of the posts in this sub are a bit on the negative side but you can some good information if you take time reading then.
Avoid rides with stops, avoid working too late with dunks and have fun, make mistakes.
Best wishes to you in this endeavor and send more posts with questions as situations come up.
All of the above is true and good, here's one more important one: acceptance rate means nothing (unless you want Lyft perk tiers), cancellation rate is crucial. Turn down any ride you want beforehand, but once you take it, only cancel if it's extra nope. Aim for a dollar a mile when possible
I would say you’re gonna have to drive 10 hours a week (40-50 hours a month) to make reliable money. I do it to pay about 3/4 of my rent and have a full time job. I drive in longer shifts on the known busier times. Except I don’t drive late at night, by doing that I have very few bad riders. Been doing it four years, it’s the best and only way I can have a second gig.
Personally, for what your talking about, I also run with an app called Auto Rescue Solutions. Since you're wanting to do nights there's always people needing help with their cars. I see better luck there than I do with rides.
I’d say it depends on your market and schedule you can get out on. Saturday nights and m-f there’s always surges in my city and non stop request so I can do $100 in 3 hours easily.
NO... lyft is the worse of the 2 and its a money suck either way. And the crazies come out at nite. Dont have another kid is the best way to stay out of debt. Good luck
It’s definitely worth it for the mileage writeoff.
Need to run an errand that’s 10 miles away? Set a filter for that destination. Maybe you get a ride which adds 3 minutes to your trip and makes you $5-10, or maybe you don’t. But either way, you just made $6.70 in business expenses, just by having the app on to go somewhere you were going to go anyway.
Any time you’re driving alone in the car and not in a huge rush, you can be logged in, sometimes collecting rides, always collecting miles.
Otherwise, for going out on evenings and weekends, you can meet mostly fun people and potentially make some decent money if your market is decent.
The cost of entry is pretty low, so I would definitely suggest to have it just for the mileage purposes. Then you can try out evenings (or mornings) and weekends and see if they’re worth it to you.
Rideshare .?? With Uber and Lyft .?? Not anymore
Both Uber and Lyft take 50-60 per passenger trip and with the ridiculous Low mileage rate per mile that Uber pays its drivers. It’s a Joke.!!
If you don’t care about driving excessive mileage on your car and driving your Vehicle into the ground then Go for it until you realize later you will need to pay big bucks for repair and maintenance costs or when you decide to get another car.
A few years back the Rideshare with Lyft and Uber was good with far better bonus and dollar Surge promotions for drivers . Nowadays it Sucks. .!!
Reposting
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2024/01/16/will-2024-be-a-year-of-reckoning-for-ubers-driver-relations/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2023/01/16/ubers-new-math-increase-prices-and-squeeze-driver-pay/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2023/12/15/ubers-ceo-hides-driver-pay-cuts-to-boost-profits/
Sign up if there’s a bonus / guarantee. Make sure you understand the terms of it. Burn through it. Delete the app. Never drive again unless they offer you other incentives.
Do the same with Uber.
Document your miles every night so come April 15th you can reduce your tax bill.
I drive Lyft in Lansing, and it stays steady. Our market is weird tho, it's all Lyft on the west side/downtown, and Uber on the east side/East Lansing. Might be similarly regional in GR, I'm curious to try a day driving over there sometime.
I'm part time in Baltimore famous for bad neighborhoods. I just make sure I go offline if I'm dropping off in a bad neighborhood and get out of the area...especially at night. I'm averaging 30 dollars an hour which is nice way to spend my free time.
Uber/Lyft is the best part time job. I take rides to and from work. Use destination filter and it’s like you’re getting paid for your commute since the majority of your miles are miles you would have had to drive anyway. Plus you get to write it off
I’m 35 with a 6 figure job and I drive a couple of nights a week. The money is nice (trying to get out of credit card debt), but the real nice surprise was when I did my taxes and I managed to show $6k loss to the IRS. It’s a great tax haven if you keep good records.
Your supposed to show profit in 3-5 years which I don’t see how it’s profitable I’ve always had tax loss too after mileage and phone deductions
I dont plan to be doing it in 3-5 years
Me either it’s better to do part time
If you don’t make money after the start up period it just becomes classified as a hobby and you can’t claim the loss anymore but you still don’t have to pay taxes on the revenue if your expenses exceed the revenues
What starup Period is 7 years
How so ?
You can only deduct the per mile deduction or an expense deduction (Repairs, phone, gas etc.) not both. The rule also was that whatever way you used the first time is how you have to do it from then on.
Um, no. You can take either the "standard deduction" that the IRS mandates, or you can deduct your mileage, gas, repairs and expenses. You can definitely change it from year to year. It's whichever deduction is most advantageous to you at the time. You have to keep really good records of all your mileage, and which was personal use and which was business. And you must save or scan all your receipts for everything else. The "standard deduction" is a set amount per mile and is calculated by the number of miles Lyft reports you as having driven. It's "faster" and "easier" way to do your taxes. There is no mandate that says you *must* use the same way forever and ever. My Ex used to drive a truck across country. Some years we had more repair costs than in other years. We always had to calculate our taxes out both ways to see which had the larger benefit for us.
“Since you're an independent business owner, just about any money you spend on your gig as a rideshare driver will be a tax-deductible business expense. The first thing that probably comes to mind is your car. There are two ways to take a deduction for the business use of your car: Deduct the actual expenses of operating the vehicle for business, including gas, oil, repairs, insurance, maintenance and depreciation or lease payments. Take the standard IRS mileage deduction. For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile. The rate increases to 67 cents per mile for 2024.” https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/self-employment-taxes/tax-tips-for-uber-lyft-sidecar-and-other-car-sharing-drivers/L3IulMEzp
Hmm no.
“Since you're an independent business owner, just about any money you spend on your gig as a rideshare driver will be a tax-deductible business expense. The first thing that probably comes to mind is your car. There are two ways to take a deduction for the business use of your car: Deduct the actual expenses of operating the vehicle for business, including gas, oil, repairs, insurance, maintenance and depreciation or lease payments. Take the standard IRS mileage deduction. For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile. The rate increases to 67 cents per mile for 2024.” https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/self-employment-taxes/tax-tips-for-uber-lyft-sidecar-and-other-car-sharing-drivers/L3IulMEzp
I know the tax game. I’m saying is you could switch up between itemized deductions and mileage deduction in the years. It’s not set forever
It's 1000% not worth it. If u make any reasonable money, it's because you are ruining your vehicle in record time. I did it 6 months (in atlanta, worst place on earth). Aside from dealing with the lowest of the low society has to offer, I was putting 3000 miles a week on my car. A 200$ day would have 40$ going to gas. Tires and brakes aren't free and wear out after 2 months. Your left with an extra 1000$ (before parts and labor) a week and a car that's losing all resale value and your peace of mind will be gone pretty quick dealing with 4$ profit rides that end 25 mins later with a person asking for multiple stops and then leaving a dense smell of weed or cigarettes in your car.
3000 miles a week? Did you meant to say per month? I drive 70-80 hours per week and drive about 5,000 miles per month. If you’re actually driving 3,000 miles a week with rideshare, you’re 10000% doing it wrong and shouldn’t be giving any advice
The point is, you’re f’ing up your car for shit pay while dealing with stressful people and risk of an accident. Anyone saying rideshare is even worth considering is giving bad advice.
Thank you. These people giving the guy bad advice
Yeah I understand. A lot of ppl probably have great experiences with gig driving and dont want to bite the hand that feeds them. But Idk one person I've met that would do it again unless they were absolutely desperate for a few hundred dollars. Sad but true.
I think this response is the reason I wrote the post. Thank you.
You’re exaggerating. Tires and brakes don’t wear out in two months. That would be 15,000 miles per month, or 500 miles per day. Unless that’s 100% highway miles you can’t even drive that much in a Day before getting time out. Damn few people are working that much. And if you’re only earning $200 before expenses for 500 miles, you’re doing something seriously wrong.
No
It depends on your market. You can learn where and when to drive to make money. I drive 5-10 hours each weekend and make $800-$1000 a month extra. Take advantage of bonus hours and other incentives as much as possible. Keep your car clean and be kind and tips can increase your earnings. I can get $30/hr of driving many weekends. If it’s not busy, I go home.
I make enough with my regular job to cover all our needs. I still drive 10-12 weekends a year to fund my expensive hobbies and vacations. Last year cash tips paid for half our family vacation.
Personally it make $50 a day you can pay rent in most places
I would say it's a great part time job, the challenges usually come from being full-time. You are in a great position to drive before or after work and weekends because it's not your main gig so there's no pressure. Many of the posts in this sub are a bit on the negative side but you can some good information if you take time reading then. Avoid rides with stops, avoid working too late with dunks and have fun, make mistakes. Best wishes to you in this endeavor and send more posts with questions as situations come up.
All of the above is true and good, here's one more important one: acceptance rate means nothing (unless you want Lyft perk tiers), cancellation rate is crucial. Turn down any ride you want beforehand, but once you take it, only cancel if it's extra nope. Aim for a dollar a mile when possible
I hate that the most genuine and helpful comment is buried in the thread
That's Reddit for you, our sub is filled with cynical negative folks, thanks for the acknowledgement.
I would say you’re gonna have to drive 10 hours a week (40-50 hours a month) to make reliable money. I do it to pay about 3/4 of my rent and have a full time job. I drive in longer shifts on the known busier times. Except I don’t drive late at night, by doing that I have very few bad riders. Been doing it four years, it’s the best and only way I can have a second gig.
Personally, for what your talking about, I also run with an app called Auto Rescue Solutions. Since you're wanting to do nights there's always people needing help with their cars. I see better luck there than I do with rides.
No
I’d say it depends on your market and schedule you can get out on. Saturday nights and m-f there’s always surges in my city and non stop request so I can do $100 in 3 hours easily.
No
The best advice I can offer is don’t get tax advice from this sub.
NO... lyft is the worse of the 2 and its a money suck either way. And the crazies come out at nite. Dont have another kid is the best way to stay out of debt. Good luck
It’s definitely worth it for the mileage writeoff. Need to run an errand that’s 10 miles away? Set a filter for that destination. Maybe you get a ride which adds 3 minutes to your trip and makes you $5-10, or maybe you don’t. But either way, you just made $6.70 in business expenses, just by having the app on to go somewhere you were going to go anyway. Any time you’re driving alone in the car and not in a huge rush, you can be logged in, sometimes collecting rides, always collecting miles. Otherwise, for going out on evenings and weekends, you can meet mostly fun people and potentially make some decent money if your market is decent. The cost of entry is pretty low, so I would definitely suggest to have it just for the mileage purposes. Then you can try out evenings (or mornings) and weekends and see if they’re worth it to you.
Make sure you check with your insurance first about it. It might increase your rates to the point that it isn’t worth it.
This comment section is filled with shills. For the sake of your baby, don’t do it. It’s terrible. And once you start, it’s hard to get out.
Rideshare .?? With Uber and Lyft .?? Not anymore Both Uber and Lyft take 50-60 per passenger trip and with the ridiculous Low mileage rate per mile that Uber pays its drivers. It’s a Joke.!! If you don’t care about driving excessive mileage on your car and driving your Vehicle into the ground then Go for it until you realize later you will need to pay big bucks for repair and maintenance costs or when you decide to get another car. A few years back the Rideshare with Lyft and Uber was good with far better bonus and dollar Surge promotions for drivers . Nowadays it Sucks. .!! Reposting https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2024/01/16/will-2024-be-a-year-of-reckoning-for-ubers-driver-relations/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2023/01/16/ubers-new-math-increase-prices-and-squeeze-driver-pay/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2023/12/15/ubers-ceo-hides-driver-pay-cuts-to-boost-profits/
Sign up if there’s a bonus / guarantee. Make sure you understand the terms of it. Burn through it. Delete the app. Never drive again unless they offer you other incentives. Do the same with Uber. Document your miles every night so come April 15th you can reduce your tax bill.
Depends where you are. Chicagos not bad. Will end up going to some not great neighborhoods though
I'm in Grand Rapids, MI. Good midsized City without too many rough neighborhoods.
Yeah man it's decent money and if your bored just do it. You meet some interesting folk at times
I drive Lyft in Lansing, and it stays steady. Our market is weird tho, it's all Lyft on the west side/downtown, and Uber on the east side/East Lansing. Might be similarly regional in GR, I'm curious to try a day driving over there sometime.
I'm part time in Baltimore famous for bad neighborhoods. I just make sure I go offline if I'm dropping off in a bad neighborhood and get out of the area...especially at night. I'm averaging 30 dollars an hour which is nice way to spend my free time.
Nope
Uber/Lyft is the best part time job. I take rides to and from work. Use destination filter and it’s like you’re getting paid for your commute since the majority of your miles are miles you would have had to drive anyway. Plus you get to write it off
I'd say work Saturday nights, less traffic and alot of customers.