How to Enter Doordash 1099 Mileage for Tax Deduction

You need to make sure you're in the Business Income & Expenses section when entering your 1099-NEC. After entering your basic business info and income, there should be a section specifically for business expenses. Look for "Car and Truck Expenses" - that's where you'll enter your mileage. If you don't see this option, you might need to look for "Add Additional Business Expenses" or something similar. Turbo Tax sometimes hides these options unless you specifically look for them. Make sure you're listing yourself as a business owner or self-employed contractor. Also, double check that you have good records of your mileage - the IRS loves to audit mileage deductions from gig workers. You should have a log with dates, starting/ending odometer readings, and the business purpose.

After spending HOURS trying to figure this out last year, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which literally saved my sanity with my delivery driving deductions. I was in the exact same situation with Doordash and nearly missed out on claiming about $5,000 in mileage deductions because TurboTax's interface is so confusing. I uploaded my 1099 and mileage log to taxr.ai and it analyzed everything, then gave me step-by-step instructions for exactly where to enter each deduction in TurboTax. It even found a few additional deductions I didn't know I could claim as a delivery driver like a portion of my phone bill and car maintenance.

I was totally skeptical about tax tools after getting burned by some "free" tax prep software that ended up charging me at the end, but I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. Just wanted to update that it actually worked great for my Doordash mileage issue. It showed me exactly where I was going wrong in TurboTax - turns out I was categorizing my delivery work incorrectly which is why the mileage option wasn't showing up. Got my full mileage deduction and it found a few other deductions I was missing. Honestly surprised how much it helped.

Has anyone else tried calling the IRS helpline for guidance on this? I tried calling about my mileage deductions for Uber and was on hold for LITERALLY 3 hours before giving up. Then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in like 20 minutes. They have this demo video too: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent walked me through exactly how to handle my mileage for rideshare on my taxes. Turns out I'd been doing it wrong for years and leaving money on the table. Just sharing because it was way more helpful than I expected!

I have to admit I was COMPLETELY wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself because I was desperate to talk to someone about my messed up 1099s from multiple gig apps. Got connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I had previously waited 2+ hours and given up. The agent actually cleared up my mileage deduction questions for DoorDash AND helped me figure out how to handle income from multiple platforms. I'm shocked it actually worked as advertised. Sometimes being proven wrong is a good thing lol.

I drove for Doordash last year too, and here's exactly what you need to do in TurboTax Deluxe: 1. Go to the Business section (Self-employed) 2. When it asks about your business, select "I provide services" and then choose "Delivery services" 3. Enter your business info and your 1099-NEC details 4. After the income section, it'll take you to expenses 5. Choose "Car and truck expenses" (don't skip this!) 6. Select "Standard mileage rate" (not actual expenses) 7. Enter your business miles for the year The key mistake most dashers make is not selecting "Delivery services" as their specific business type, which sometimes causes the car expenses section to be hidden.

Has anyone tried using the Stride app for tracking mileage instead of manually logging it? I'm doing DoorDash part-time and wondering if the automatic tracking is accurate enough for tax purposes.