How much should a gig driver set aside for taxes each quarter?
A commonly-cited starting range is 25%-30% of net self-employment income — gross platform pay minus your mileage and other business deductions, not gross pay itself. That's a rule of thumb, not an IRS figure; the exact number for your situation comes from the Form 1040-ES worksheet.
This page is the "how much" companion to the "when" — 2026 due dates and the safe-harbor rule. Read that one for deadlines and penalties; this one is about sizing the payment itself.
Two taxes stack on the same net income
Every dollar of net self-employment income owes two federal taxes at once: self-employment tax — 15.3% of 92.35% of net earnings, an effective rate of about 14.1% — and ordinary federal income tax on top, at whatever bracket your total income lands in. State income tax, where it applies, is separate again and not covered here. That stacking is why the commonly-cited range sits well above the self-employment-tax rate alone: 25%-30% is meant to cover both federal taxes together, applied to net income.
Start from net, not gross
Only net self-employment income is taxed — gross platform pay minus deductible business expenses, mileage being the largest one for most drivers. In 2026 that's 72.5¢ per business mile from January 1 through June 30, and 76¢ per mile from July 1 through December 31 (IRS Notice 2026-10 / IR-2025-128, and Announcement 2026-11 / IRB 2026-29). A driver who applies a set-aside percentage to gross earnings, without subtracting mileage first, will consistently over-save — not a disaster, but not an accurate number either.
A worked example: $1,000 a week, gross
Say a driver grosses $1,000 a week across platforms and logs about 200 business miles a week — a round number for illustration, not a claim about a typical driver's mileage.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross weekly earnings | $1,000 |
| Mileage deduction (200 mi/wk at the 2026 blended rate, roughly 74¢/mi average across the two 2026 rate periods) | −$148 |
| Net self-employment income | $852 |
| Self-employment tax (15.3% of 92.35% of net) | −$120 |
| Set-aside at the commonly-cited 25%-30% of net (covers SE tax + federal income tax) | $213-$256 |
At the midpoint of that range, roughly 27.5% of the $852 net — about $234 a week, or a little under $3,050 for a 13-week quarter — is a reasonable planning number to move into a separate account as the money comes in. It is not a substitute for actually running the Form 1040-ES worksheet once real numbers for the quarter are in.
Why 25%-30% is a rule of thumb, not your number
The range moves with things a generic percentage can't see: your filing status and other income (a spouse's W-2 job, a part-time job of your own — see how a W-2 job changes gig taxes if that applies), how much of your income falls in each tax bracket, whether you itemize, and what state you're in. A driver with a lot of other deductions might land closer to 20%; a driver with no other deductions and a higher bracket might need 35% or more. The 25%-30% figure is a starting point for a system, not a computed answer — the 1040-ES worksheet, run against your actual year-to-date numbers, is the authoritative version.
A simple system
- Move a percentage of every payout to a separate account the day it lands — treat it as already spent.
- Before each quarterly due date, run the actual Form 1040-ES worksheet on year-to-date net income to true up the amount, rather than assuming the rough percentage was exactly right.
- Adjust the percentage itself once you've filed a full year — your first real return tells you whether 25%, 30%, or something else fit your situation.
MileTruth. "How much should a gig driver set aside for taxes each quarter?." Baker Ventures LLC, September 8, 2026. https://miletruth.bakerventuresstudio.com/answers/how-much-to-set-aside-each-quarter-gig-driver