Can I deduct my phone and service plan on self-employment taxes for delivery gig work?

Yes, you can definitely deduct a portion of both your phone and service plan as a business expense on your Schedule C! The key is determining a reasonable business-use percentage. Since you're using the phone for both personal and business purposes, you need to estimate what percentage of time the phone is used for DoorDash work. Many gig workers use 30-40% as a business percentage if they're part-time. Since you only did deliveries for 3 months out of the year, you'd also need to prorate that percentage for just those months. For the phone itself, you have two options: 1) Take depreciation over several years, or 2) Use Section 179 to deduct the business portion immediately. Either way, you'd only deduct the business percentage of the phone cost. For your service plan, calculate the business percentage of the $85/month, and only claim that amount for the months you were actually delivering (October-December). Keep a log going forward of your business vs. personal usage to better support your deduction in case of an audit.

I had almost the exact same situation last year. Been doing UberEats part-time and needed to figure out my phone deduction. I found this AI tool called https://taxr.ai that analyzes your delivery app and phone usage patterns. It actually gives you a detailed breakdown of business vs personal usage based on your actual data! I uploaded my phone statement and some screenshots of my delivery app, and it calculated that 32% of my phone usage was business-related. It even created a proper expense report that I could attach to my taxes. Saved me so much guesswork and gave me confidence I wasn't overclaiming or underclaiming. Their analysis also helped me identify other deductions I was missing entirely - like a portion of my car insurance that I didn't realize qualified.

Just wanted to update - I tried that taxr.ai site after my last post and it was exactly what I needed! I've been doing Doordash, GrubHub and Instacart all at the same time and had no idea how to figure out my phone deduction. The tool analyzed my app usage across all three platforms and determined my business use was actually 47% - way higher than the 25% I was planning to claim! It even generated a proper tax document showing the calculation method that I could include with my return. The whole process took like 15 minutes. Definitely using this every year now.

If you're having trouble with other tax questions, you might want to try calling the IRS directly. I know that sounds like torture lol, but I found this service called https://claimyr.com that gets you through to an actual IRS agent without the typical 2+ hour wait. I was super confused about some self-employment deductions similar to your phone situation, and needed an official answer. Used Claimyr, and got connected to an IRS rep in about 15 minutes. They walked me through exactly what percentage of my phone I could legitimately deduct as a gig worker. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they use technology to wait in the phone queue for you, then call you when an agent is about to answer.

I need to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate for help with my gig worker deductions. It actually worked exactly as advertised! I got a call back in about 20 minutes saying they had an IRS agent on the line. The agent confirmed I could deduct my phone based on business use percentage and recommended keeping a log of hours the phone is used for business vs. personal. She also mentioned I could deduct a portion of my phone case and screen protector, which I had no idea about. Definitely eating my words here - this service saved me hours of frustration.

Another approach that many of us gig workers use is to have a separate phone line just for business. I added a second line to my phone plan for about $30/month that I use exclusively for delivery apps, customer communication, etc. This way I can deduct 100% of that line and don't have to mess with calculating percentages. For the phone itself, I still have to split the usage, but having separate apps for work vs personal helps track that percentage more accurately.

Don't forget you can also deduct mileage which is way more valuable than the phone deduction! For 2025 its like 65.5 cents per mile i think. I made $6000 from doordash last year but after mileage deduction i only paid tax on like $2500.

Great question! I've been doing delivery work for about two years now and had to figure this out myself. Here's what I learned: For your phone deduction, you're absolutely right that you can claim the business portion. Since you only did deliveries for 3 months (Oct-Dec), you'll want to calculate it as: Business use percentage × Phone costs × 3/12 months. A few practical tips: - Keep receipts for both your phone purchase and monthly bills - Document your business usage somehow (screen time, delivery hours, etc.) - Be conservative but reasonable with your percentage - 25-35% is typical for part-time delivery work For the iPhone itself, you can deduct the business percentage of the full $1,200 cost, not just what you've paid so far. You can either depreciate it over several years or use Section 179 to deduct it all in the first year. One thing to consider for next year: some drivers find it easier to get a separate phone line just for business use, which makes the deduction cleaner and gives you better documentation. Also don't forget about other potential deductions like mileage (67¢/mile for 2025), delivery bags, phone accessories, etc. TurboTax should walk you through most of these on Schedule C.