On-trip miles
The ride from pickup to drop-off, which Uber does report.
For Uber drivers
Track every Uber mile you actually drive.
Uber's tax summary counts your on-trip miles. It leaves out the miles between rides, and for a rideshare driver those add up fast. MileShield captures every deductible mile and turns it into an IRS-ready Schedule C.
Driving for Uber makes you a 1099 contractor running a small transportation business. Your mileage deduction is the biggest lever you have to lower your tax bill, but Uber's reported mileage only reflects time with a passenger or an active trip. The miles you drive waiting for the next request are deductible and uncounted.
Rideshare drivers rack up a lot of these between-trip miles: circling back from a drop-off in a slow area, repositioning to a busier part of town, driving to a surge zone. All of it is business mileage, and none of it shows up in Uber's summary.
What counts
Deductible miles for Uber drivers.
The miles below are business miles the IRS lets you deduct. MileShield captures them automatically as one continuous shift.
Between-request driving
Repositioning to a busier area or surge zone while online and available.
Return from a far drop-off
Driving back toward your working area after a long ride out.
Uber Eats delivery legs
Delivery miles if you run Uber Eats, including between-order driving.
Fuel stops while online
A gas stop during an active shift is business mileage.
Multi-app miles
If you run Uber alongside another platform, the miles between them count too.
Common questions
Uber taxes, answered.
Does Uber track my mileage for taxes?
Uber includes an on-trip mileage figure in your tax summary, but it only reflects miles during an active trip. It does not count the miles between requests, repositioning, or the drive back from a far drop-off, which are all deductible. The IRS expects your own contemporaneous log, and you can file with your own records if they show more business miles than Uber reported.
What miles can I deduct as an Uber driver?
All miles driven for business while online: on-trip miles, repositioning between requests, returning from a far drop-off, and fuel stops during a shift. Your commute from home to where you start driving and the drive home afterward are personal miles and do not count.
How much can an Uber driver save on taxes?
At the 2026 rate of 72.5 cents per mile through June 30 and 76 cents from July 1, a driver logging 20,000 business miles deducts roughly $15,000, which is about $5,500 in combined income and self-employment tax savings depending on bracket. Drivers relying only on the on-trip figure typically miss 15 to 30 percent of their deductible miles.
Want the deeper version? Read the complete guide to Uber driver taxes.