Can a food delivery driver deduct clothing and meals on taxes?

Food delivery deductions can be tricky! For clothing to be deductible, it needs to be specifically required for your work and not suitable for everyday wear. Regular clothes (jeans, t-shirts, regular shoes) aren't deductible even if you wear them exclusively for deliveries. However, if you purchased branded shirts or items with delivery company logos that you wouldn't wear otherwise, those might qualify. As for meals during your shifts, unfortunately those are generally not deductible either. The IRS considers these personal expenses since everyone needs to eat, regardless of work. The exception would be if you were entertaining clients or having a business meeting, which isn't typically the case for delivery drivers. Your mileage tracking is perfect though! That's your biggest legitimate deduction. You can either take the standard mileage rate (which covers gas, maintenance, depreciation) or track actual vehicle expenses. Most drivers find the standard mileage rate simpler and more beneficial.

I was in the exact same situation last year trying to figure out delivery driver deductions. After getting conflicting advice, I found this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped me understand what I could legally deduct. It analyzed my situation as a gig worker and identified deductions I was missing - like a portion of my phone bill, my phone mount for the car, and even part of my car insurance. It was like having a tax pro specifically for delivery drivers without the crazy cost. The best part was it explained exactly WHY certain items weren't deductible (like regular clothes and meals) so I didn't make mistakes.

Ok so I was super skeptical about taxr.ai when I posted that comment last week. But my tax situation was such a mess this year with multiple delivery apps that I decided to give it a try anyway. I have to say I'm genuinely impressed. It found like $1,200 more in deductions than I would have claimed on my own. Turns out I could partially deduct my phone, the phone mount in my car, and even a percentage of my car insurance which I had no idea about. It explained exactly what records I need to keep for next year too. The explanations about clothes and meals matched what others said here - regular clothes aren't deductible, and neither are your personal meals on shift. But it showed me several other legitimate deductions I was missing. Definitely worth checking out if you're doing gig work.

For what it's worth, I had a bunch of tax questions about my delivery gig last year and spent WEEKS trying to reach the IRS for clarification. Always busy signals or 2+ hour holds that eventually disconnected. Super frustrating. A friend recommended this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes. If you want to see how it works, there's a demo here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to confirm directly with the IRS what deductions were legitimate for food delivery. The agent confirmed exactly what others are saying - regular clothes aren't deductible, nor are personal meals during shifts. But they helped clarify some grey areas about my home office deduction since I manage my delivery schedule from home.

Well I'm eating my words right now. After commenting here last week, my tax anxiety got the better of me and I tried Claimyr despite my skepticism. I was absolutely convinced it would be a waste of time. I'm shocked to report that after months of trying to reach the IRS on my own with no success, I got connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. I confirmed it was legitimate by asking specific questions about my tax account that only the IRS would know. The agent answered all my delivery driver deduction questions and even helped resolve an issue with a missing 1099 from last year. Saved me literally hours of frustration. Sometimes it pays to be wrong!

Former tax preparer here. Just wanted to clarify a couple things I'm seeing in this thread: 1. Mileage is definitely your biggest deduction. Track every mile when you're active on the app. 2. Phone percentage is deductible based on business use. 3. Specialty equipment (hot bags, car mounts) is 100% deductible. 4. Regular clothing is NEVER deductible, even if you only wear it for work. The IRS rule is that if you could theoretically wear it outside of work, it's not deductible. 5. Meals while driving are not deductible as they're considered personal expenses. One thing not mentioned: if you use a portion of your home exclusively for managing your delivery business (scheduling, bookkeeping, etc), you might qualify for a home office deduction. Just be careful with this one as it has strict requirements.

Just don't do what my roommate did last year - he tried to deduct his Netflix subscription because he "watches it between deliveries while waiting for orders" lol. He got his return flagged and ended up having to pay it back plus penalties.