Your January gig-driver tax checklist
Do these in order — each one feeds the next, so doing them out of order means redoing work. If this is your first gig-tax January, or you're dreading repeating a messy one, start at step 1 and don't skip ahead to filing before your numbers are settled.
The checklist
- Confirm your mileage log covers the whole year, split correctly at June 30. 2026 has two IRS rates — 72.5 cents through June, 76 cents from July — and a single annual total at one rate is wrong regardless of which rate you used. The full two-rate explainer.
- If your log has real gaps, reconstruct what you can now, from platform trip histories, calendar entries and bank/card statements — while the evidence still exists, not in March. How to start a log properly going forward.
- Gather every 1099 you're expecting, but don't wait on them to start — your reporting obligation doesn't depend on receiving one, and the numbers on a 1099 sometimes don't match what you actually received. 1099 confusion, resolved. · What to do if yours is wrong.
- Total gross earnings across every platform you drove for, including tips, bonuses and any 1099 income outside gig work. Multi-apping earnings, reconciled.
- Apply the mileage deduction to get net profit — this is the number both self-employment tax and income tax are actually calculated on. Self-employment tax, and why this step matters twice.
- Decide standard mileage vs. actual expenses, if you haven't already committed for the year — the two methods aren't interchangeable mid-year for the same vehicle. Standard mileage vs. actual expenses.
- Check whether you owe a January-due quarterly payment for the prior year's fourth quarter — this is separate from, and earlier than, the April filing deadline. Quarterly estimated taxes, deadlines and mechanics.
- If you had a W-2 job and gig income in the same year, reconcile the two before assuming your gig tax situation is the whole picture. W-2 job and gig driving in the same year.
- Check any state-specific obligations where you drove — state rules on gig income and deductions vary and aren't covered by anything federal above. State tax and gig driver expenses.
- File, or hand a settled set of numbers to whoever files for you. Everything above should be done before this step, not during it.
Why this order, specifically
Steps 1–2 come first because the mileage number is an input to nearly everything after it — profit, both taxes, and the standard-vs-actual decision all depend on it being right. Waiting on 1099s (step 3) would stall the whole list for no reason, since the reporting obligation doesn't depend on having them in hand. Filing (step 10) is last on purpose: it's the step people jump to under deadline pressure, which is exactly when an unreconciled mileage log or a missed state obligation gets missed too.
General information, not tax advice or a guarantee of any outcome. This checklist orders the work; it doesn't replace reading the linked explainers or, for anything beyond the basics, talking to a tax professional.
More in this section
- Is this offer actually worth taking?
- You bought out your lease — what happens to your deduction?
- Leased vs. owned: the mileage deduction rule is different
- Instacart: mileage, and the expenses shoppers forget
- Changed vehicles mid-year? How your deduction works
- Can you deduct mileage if you drive a rental car for gig work?
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. 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 in development.
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
What should a gig driver do first in January for taxes?
Confirm your total business mileage for the year is actually recorded and split correctly across the 2026 two-rate change, then gather every 1099 you're expecting — in that order, because the mileage number feeds directly into the profit figure every later step depends on.
Do I need all my 1099s before I can start?
No. Your reporting obligation does not depend on receiving a 1099 at all, and platforms sometimes send them late or with numbers that don't match your own records. Start reconciling with your own earnings records while you wait.
What if I never tracked mileage properly last year?
Reconstruct what you can now, from platform trip histories, calendar entries and bank statements, while the evidence still exists. A partial, honestly-reconstructed log is worth having; a perfect log you never actually start is not.
When is the filing deadline?
The federal filing deadline is generally April 15, but that is the last item on this list, not the first. The quarterly payment due in January (for the prior year's fourth quarter) usually lands before the filing deadline itself.
MileTruth. “Your January gig-driver tax checklist.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 13, 2026. https://miletruth.bakerventuresstudio.com/answers/january-tax-checklist-for-gig-drivers/