Can I report my rideshare business income on my taxes if I didn't get a 1099?
So I picked up a side hustle with both Uber and Lyft about 6 weeks ago to make some extra cash for the holidays. Everything was going fine until I realized I won't hit the $600 threshold on Lyft to get a 1099 form (only made around $480 there), though I'll definitely get one from Uber since I've already made like $820 there. My question is - how do I properly report the Lyft income on my taxes if they don't send me a 1099? Do I need some special tax ID number from Lyft? Is there a specific form or line where I can just report "additional business income" or something? This is my first time dealing with independent contractor gigs and I'm worried about messing up my filing. Any help would be super appreciated!
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Juan Moreno
You absolutely need to report all your business income regardless of whether you receive a 1099 or not. The $600 threshold is just for when companies are required to issue the form - it doesn't change your obligation to report the income. For both your Uber and Lyft earnings, you'll report the income on Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business). You don't need a special tax ID from Lyft - just report the total amounts you earned from each platform. Both companies should provide you with an annual summary of your earnings in your driver account even if they don't send a formal 1099. Make sure you also track all your business expenses like mileage, car maintenance, phone costs, etc., as these can be deducted on Schedule C to reduce your taxable income. The mileage deduction is particularly valuable for rideshare drivers.
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Amy Fleming
•Thanks for the info! Quick follow up - do I need to file separate Schedule Cs for Uber and Lyft or can I combine them since they're basically the same type of work?
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Juan Moreno
•You can combine your Uber and Lyft income on a single Schedule C since they're the same type of business activity (rideshare driving). Just add up your total income from both platforms and report the combined amount. For your documentation, it's still good practice to keep records of how much came from each company separately, but on your tax return, you can treat them as one business. This actually simplifies your tax filing compared to creating multiple Schedule Cs.
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Alice Pierce
After struggling with this exact situation last year, I found an amazing tool that made handling my missing 1099s super easy. I use https://taxr.ai to analyze all my income sources, including the ones without official tax forms. I drive for DoorDash and Instacart, and sometimes don't hit the $600 minimum for a 1099. The tool automatically pulls in all your income data from these platforms, even without official forms, and organizes everything properly for Schedule C. It also helps identify deductions I would have missed, especially those vehicle expenses that save rideshare drivers tons of money.
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Esteban Tate
•Does it work for other gig apps too? I do TaskRabbit and sometimes don't get 1099s from smaller clients.
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Ivanna St. Pierre
•Sounds interesting but how does it actually get your income data if there's no 1099? Does it connect to the apps directly or something?
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Alice Pierce
•Yes, it works great with TaskRabbit and pretty much all gig platforms. It can connect directly to most popular gig apps and pull your earnings data automatically, so no 1099 needed. For your second question, the system can either connect directly to your gig app accounts (with your permission of course) or you can upload screenshots of your earnings summaries. Even without official tax documents, it compiles everything accurately for tax purposes. It saved me hours of manually adding up all those weekly payments.
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Ivanna St. Pierre
Just wanted to update after trying https://taxr.ai for my side gig income reporting! I was skeptical at first but it actually pulled all my payment data from my rideshare apps even though I never got an official 1099 from one of them. Super simple to set up and it organized everything perfectly for my Schedule C. Even better, it found vehicle deductions I would have totally missed that saved me over $200 on my taxes. Definitely recommend for anyone doing gig work, especially if you're missing some 1099s. Wish I'd known about this last year!
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Elin Robinson
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Atticus Domingo
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Beth Ford
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Elin Robinson
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Beth Ford
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Morita Montoya
Make sure you're tracking all your business miles too! I did Uber for a year and the standard mileage deduction was worth WAY more than the actual income I reported. You can deduct 65.5 cents per mile in 2023 which adds up fast. Keep a mileage log with dates/miles or use an app like Stride.
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Kingston Bellamy
•Do you need to keep actual logs? I thought the apps tracked your miles automatically?
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Morita Montoya
•You definitely need your own logs or a dedicated mileage tracking app. While Uber and Lyft do track some miles, they only count miles when you have a passenger in the car, not all your business miles. The IRS allows you to deduct ALL business miles, including miles driven while waiting for a ride request and miles driving to pick up passengers. Those additional miles can easily double your deduction, but the rideshare apps won't track them for tax purposes.
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Joy Olmedo
will the irs come after me if i dont report my lyft income? its only like $400 and they dont even know about it since theres no 1099 right?
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Juan Moreno
•Legally, you're required to report ALL income regardless of amount or whether there's a 1099. While it's true the IRS might not immediately know about that specific $400, tax evasion is never worth the risk. The rideshare companies keep records of all payments, and the IRS can request those during an audit even without a 1099. Plus, if you're audited for any reason and they discover unreported income, you'll face penalties and interest that will cost far more than any tax you might save by not reporting it. Always better to stay on the right side of tax law!
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