Uber Eats mileage deduction in 2026
Uber's tax summary gives you on-trip mileage. Your deduction is bigger than that. The summary typically covers miles while a trip or delivery is active — it does not cover driving to a pickup before acceptance, driving while online and available, or repositioning between offers.
For delivery work those unpaid miles are commonly 30 to 50 percent of the total. They are generally deductible business miles, and a driver who reports only the on-trip figure is leaving a large deduction unclaimed.
And 2026 has two rates — 72.5¢ through June 30, 76¢ from July 1 — so the log must be date-segmented. A single annual figure multiplied by one rate is wrong regardless of which rate it used.
What the tax summary covers
| Mile type | In Uber's on-trip figure? | Generally deductible? |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup to drop-off, delivery active | Yes | Yes |
| Driving to the restaurant after accepting | Varies | Yes |
| Online and available, driving toward demand | No | Generally yes |
| Repositioning between offers | No | Generally yes |
| Driving out of a delivery zone | No | Generally yes |
| Offline errands | No | No |
Keep the tax summary. It is genuinely useful corroborating evidence and it is one of the better artefacts any platform gives drivers. It is just not the whole number, and it was never meant to be.
Multi-apping: track trips, not platforms
If you run Uber Eats alongside DoorDash or Grubhub, the instinct is to try to attribute each mile to a platform. Do not, for tax purposes.
The deduction is on business miles driven, full stop. It does not care which app produced them, and a mile driven while online for two platforms is one mile, not two. Attempting per-platform attribution creates double-counting risk and a log that is harder to defend, not easier.
Attribution matters for a different question — which platform is actually paying you best after vehicle cost. That is a profitability analysis, it is genuinely worth doing, and it should not be mixed into the tax record. Why your gig pay is lower than it looks.
The 2026 arithmetic
An Uber Eats driver with 18,000 business miles, split 8,000 in the first half and 10,000 in the second:
| Period | Miles | Rate | Deduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1 – Jun 30 | 8,000 | 72.5¢ | $5,800.00 |
| Jul 1 – Dec 31 | 10,000 | 76¢ | $7,600.00 |
| Total | 18,000 | — | $13,400.00 |
Using 72.5¢ throughout gives $13,050 — $350 low. Using 76¢ throughout gives $13,680 — $280 high. Full explainer. · Free two-rate calculator.
Building the log
- Every trip dated, because 2026 splits at June 30 and a reclassified trip has to keep its date.
- Unpaid working miles included, with a purpose noted.
- Personal trips marked personal, which makes the log more credible and gives you the total-miles figure you need for Part IV of Schedule C.
- The Uber tax summary exported and archived alongside it every year, before you lose account access.
- A monthly odometer check against whatever app you use, because the failure that costs the most is not misclassification — it is trips that were never recorded. How to measure your tracker's capture rate.
Rideshare and delivery on one account
If you drive Uber rides as well as Uber Eats, the mileage question is the same — business miles are business miles — but the income reporting differs, and Uber's summaries handle the two streams separately. Keep both summaries, and keep one mileage log covering all of it.
Uber and Lyft mileage deduction 2026. · Schedule C for gig drivers.
General information, not tax advice. Every figure traces to an IRS source linked below. MileTruth is not affiliated with Uber.
Questions and answers
Does Uber report my mileage for taxes?
Uber provides an annual tax summary that typically includes on-trip mileage. That figure generally covers miles while a trip or delivery is active and excludes the miles driven while online and waiting, driving to a pickup before acceptance, or repositioning between offers.
Can I deduct miles driven while waiting for an Uber Eats order?
Miles driven while you are online and available for work are generally treated as business miles, including driving toward a busier area. Time spent parked while waiting is not mileage at all, but the driving around it generally is.
What mileage rate do Uber Eats drivers use in 2026?
72.5 cents per mile for miles driven January 1 through June 30, 2026, and 76 cents for July 1 through December 31. The rate is determined by when the miles were driven.
How do I track mileage if I run Uber Eats and DoorDash at the same time?
Track total business miles by trip rather than trying to attribute each mile to a platform. The deduction is on business miles driven, not on miles per platform. Attribution only matters if you want per-platform profitability, which is a separate analysis.
Is the Uber tax summary enough for the IRS?
It is strong supporting evidence and generally not a complete log. Publication 463 requires a record of the date, mileage, destination and business purpose of each trip, kept at or near the time of the trip, and the summary typically covers only on-trip miles.
MileTruth. “Uber Eats mileage deduction in 2026.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 6, 2026. https://miletruth.bakerventuresstudio.com/answers/uber-eats-mileage-deduction-2026/