Calculator / Gig and delivery drivers

Estimated taxes for gig, rideshare and delivery drivers

No one withholds tax from your payouts, so you pay it yourself during the year. Here is how to plan for it and where mileage fits in.

Why drivers owe quarterly taxes

When you drive or deliver as an independent contractor, nobody takes out income tax, Social Security or Medicare. The IRS says self-employed individuals generally must pay self-employment tax as well as income tax, and that estimated tax is how you pay as you earn. If you expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file, you generally pay estimated tax on the four due dates.

What counts is profit, not payouts

Tax is figured on your net profit: what the apps paid you minus business expenses. Self-employment tax is 15.3% of 92.35% of net profit for 2026, with the Social Security part capped at $184,500 of earnings. Because you also owe income tax, use the calculator to get a figure for your own numbers.

The mileage deduction

If you use the standard mileage rate for business miles, the IRS lists 72.5 cents per mile for January 1 to June 30, 2026 and 76 cents per mile for July 1 to December 31, 2026. The rate changed in the middle of the year, so keep your miles by date. Keep a log of each business trip, and ask a tax professional whether the standard mileage method is right for your vehicle and situation.

An example

Single driver with $52,000 of payouts, $1,150 of other business costs, and 10,000 business miles in each half of 2026. Mileage is 10,000 times $0.725 plus 10,000 times $0.76, or $14,850. Net profit is $36,000. The calculator's estimate is about $5,087 of self-employment tax and $1,835 of income tax, about $6,921 in all. The required annual payment (90%) is about $6,229, or about $1,557 for each due date. Income that arrives evenly, like this, fits equal installments well.

If your earnings swing, for example with holidays or a second job in the busy season, choose "In lumps or seasons" in the calculator. Here is how the annualized method works.

Good habits

Move a share of every payout into a separate savings account.
Log business miles and expenses as you go.
Update your estimate after each due date.

This is general information, not tax advice. See the disclaimer.

Sources

Last checked October 11, 2026.