Amazon Flex: the miles, and what a block really pays
A block quotes a rate for a time window, and three things about that number are not what they look like.
The miles are yours. A route is a route whether it is 40 miles or 95, and the block pays the same. At the second-half 2026 rate of 76 cents, a 95-mile route carries $72.20 of vehicle cost against a block rate that did not change.
The overrun is unpaid. A block that runs long pays for the window, not for the time. The miles beyond the window are still deductible, which is the only part of an overrun that goes in your favour, and it only helps if you recorded them.
The commute is not deductible. Driving from home to the station before the block begins is generally commuting. Once you are working, driving between locations for the business is business travel. The distinction is about when your work day began, not about distance.
So the number that matters is not the block rate. It is: block rate, minus the route's mileage cost, minus the drive to the station if it is long, divided by the realistic time including the overrun.
2026 is a split-rate year: 72.5 cents January to June, 76 cents July to December.
Reading a block, worked
A four-hour block paying $92. The route turns out to be 78 miles. The station is 14 miles from home each way. It runs 35 minutes over.
The advertised number: $23 an hour.
The real one:
- Route mileage cost at 76 cents: $59.28
- Time actually spent, including the overrun and the drive to the station: about 5.1 hours
- $92 − $59.28 = $32.72, over 5.1 hours, is about $6.40 an hour before tax.
Then self-employment tax of 15.3 percent and income tax apply to the profit.
That is one block with one set of assumptions, and the point is not the figure. The point is that the block rate and the block's value are different numbers, and only one of them is on the screen. Why gig pay is lower than it looks. · The four numbers every gig driver should know.
Which miles count
Yes:
- Station to first stop, and every leg of the route
- Between stops, including backtracking
- A return to the station for undeliverables
- Driving between two blocks on the same day, if you stay working
No:
- Home to the station before the block starts
- Station or last stop to home after you finish
- Personal errands during the block
The commuting question is the one Flex drivers ask most, because the drive to the station can be substantial and it feels like part of the work. Feeling like part of the work is not the test. The commuting rule for gig drivers. · The first and last trip of the day.
One thing that can change the answer: if your home genuinely qualifies as your principal place of business, trips from it to other business locations are on a different footing. That has strict requirements and most drivers do not meet them. The home office deduction.
What a log has to contain
Date, miles, destination and business purpose, per trip, plus total annual miles for the vehicle.
Record the overrun miles. A block that runs 35 minutes over usually means real extra distance, and those are the miles most likely to be missing from any platform estimate.
Use the platform's figure as a floor. If your log shows fewer miles than Amazon's route estimate, your log is wrong. If it shows more, that is expected, because the estimate does not contain your driving between the route's assumptions and reality. What a log needs. · Why apps miss trips.
The rest of the deduction
Beyond mileage, deductible separately: business parking and tolls, the business-use share of phone and plan, a phone mount and charger, and equipment bought for the work.
Parking, tolls and what else you can deduct. · Your phone and plan.
The blocks worth taking
The arithmetic above turns into a rule of thumb you can apply on the offer screen:
Miles per dollar is the number to watch. A block whose route is long relative to its rate is a block where the vehicle takes most of the money. A short dense route at the same rate is a much better block, and the offer screen presents them identically.
A distant station eats the block before it starts. Two unpaid drives plus their vehicle cost, against a fixed rate.
Recording all of it is what makes the comparison possible, which is the same argument as the deduction and a more immediately useful one. Multi-apping, and which platform actually pays. · The end-of-year checklist.
General information, not tax advice. Every figure traces to an IRS source linked below. MileTruth is not affiliated with Amazon or Amazon Flex. Talk to a tax professional about your own return.
More in this section
About MileTruth
MileTruth is an iOS app from Baker Ventures LLC that tracks deductible business mileage for gig and delivery drivers and shows true net pay: what is left after mileage, fuel and self-employment tax, not what the platform showed you at acceptance, once you log your online hours. It is built for people driving several platforms in the same shift, and for anyone who needs a mileage log that would hold up if the IRS asked for it. The app is submitted for App Store review and launches automatically on approval.
Everything on this site is free and needs no account: the mileage deduction calculator, the per-platform pay breakdowns, and the answers, each one linked to the IRS publication or platform document it came from. MileTruth publishes the source for every number, including the 2026 split-year standard mileage rate, because a deduction you cannot substantiate is not a deduction.
Questions and answers
Can Amazon Flex drivers deduct mileage?
Yes. Flex drivers are independent contractors, so business mileage is deductible on Schedule C. That includes the drive to the station once you are working the block, the entire route, and the drive between stops, but not the commute from home before the block begins.
Is the drive to the delivery station deductible?
This is the case worth getting right. Driving from home to a station before your block starts is generally commuting. Once you are working, driving between locations for the business is business travel, and the distinction is about when your work day began rather than about the distance.
Does Amazon track my mileage?
Any figure a platform provides is its own estimate of a route, not a contemporaneous record of your driving kept by you, which is what the IRS asks for. Use it as a floor to check your own log against, never as the log.
What happens when a block runs over?
The block pays for the window. Time beyond it is generally unpaid, and the miles beyond it are still deductible, which is a small consolation and worth recording accurately.
How do I work out whether a block is worth taking?
Take the block rate, subtract the mileage cost of the route at the current rate, subtract the drive to the station if it is long, then divide by the realistic time including the overrun. That number, not the advertised rate, is what the block pays.
What about the 2026 split rate?
2026 uses 72.5 cents per mile for January through June and 76 cents for July through December, so business miles have to be totalled separately for each half of the year.
MileTruth. “Amazon Flex: the miles, and what a block really pays.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 7, 2026. https://miletruth.bakerventuresstudio.com/answers/amazon-flex-mileage-deduction-2026/