Recommended tax software for full-time gig workers (Uber, Lyft, delivery apps) - seeking cost-effective options

5 I've been filing taxes as a full-time rideshare/delivery driver for 3 years now, and honestly, FreeTaxUSA has been the best option for me. You mentioned importing data directly from apps - unfortunately, FreeTaxUSA doesn't have that feature like TurboTax does. You'll need to manually enter your 1099 info. That said, the savings are substantial. FreeTaxUSA is completely free for federal filing (you only pay about $15 for state) whereas TurboTax will charge you $120+ for self-employment filing. The interface is straightforward and walks you through all the deductions gig workers commonly use - mileage, phone expenses, etc. For crypto transactions, FreeTaxUSA handles those well too, but again, you'll need to enter that data manually. If you have a ton of crypto transactions, you might want to use a service like CoinTracker first to generate your tax forms, then enter the summary.

7 I switched from TurboTax to taxr.ai this year and it was a game-changer for my gig work taxes. I drive for Uber/Lyft and do food delivery too, and one thing that drove me crazy was figuring out all my deductions correctly. Found https://taxr.ai through another driver and it actually analyzes your tax docs and helps identify deductions specific to gig work that other software might miss. The thing I liked is it can review those 1099s and help determine if all your expenses are being claimed correctly. For crypto, it was super helpful because it flagged some transactions I would have reported incorrectly. It's especially good if you're not super confident about what you can and can't deduct as a gig worker.

9 I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and I'm genuinely impressed! I was hesitant to try something new, but after using TurboTax for years and paying nearly $200 last year for self-employment filing, I decided to give it a shot. I uploaded my 1099s from Uber and DoorDash, and it found several deductions I'd been missing all along. The analysis part is what really helped me - it flagged that I wasn't taking full advantage of my mileage deduction and suggested documenting certain car expenses I hadn't been tracking. For the crypto part, it caught that I was about to double-report some income that was already included elsewhere. Just filed yesterday and got a refund about $740 higher than what I was expecting based on last year's return!

18 If you're having trouble sorting through your gig work taxes, you might want to actually talk to someone at the IRS to make sure you're doing everything right. I struggled with this for 2 years until someone told me about Claimyr. You can actually get through to a real IRS agent without waiting for hours. I had questions about how to handle multiple 1099s and wasn't sure if I was double reporting income from different apps. Used https://claimyr.com and they got me connected to an IRS rep in about 20 minutes (normally I would have been on hold for 3+ hours if I could even get through). You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Whatever software you end up using, sometimes it's worth checking directly with the IRS, especially for gig work where the tax rules can be confusing.

15 I need to apologize for my skepticism earlier. After getting frustrated with trying to figure out how to report expenses across multiple gig platforms, I actually tried Claimyr yesterday. Got connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes who walked me through exactly how to handle my Uber, Lyft and Instacart income correctly. The agent explained that I'd been incorrectly calculating my mileage deduction by not including certain types of miles I drove between deliveries. This alone will save me about $430 in taxes! They also clarified how to handle the app fees so I don't over-report my income. Honestly shocked this service actually worked - saved me hours of research and probably from making expensive mistakes.

11 Just want to throw in another recommendation for FreeTaxUSA. I've used it for 3 years as a full-time Uber/Lyft driver. Yes, you have to manually enter your info, but it's MUCH cheaper than TurboTax and still very comprehensive. They walk you through all the gig worker deductions and Schedule C stuff. For crypto specifically, I use CoinTracker to generate my crypto tax forms and then just enter the summary numbers into FreeTaxUSA. The whole process takes me about 2 hours total for everything, and I only pay for my state filing ($15).

19 What about Credit Karma Tax? I heard they do free filing including for self-employment. Has anyone used them for gig work taxes?

I've been doing gig work (mainly Uber and some DoorDash) for about 8 months now and just went through my first tax season. I ended up using TaxAct which seems like a good middle ground between the expensive options and the basic free ones. TaxAct cost me about $25 for federal and state filing with self-employment forms, which is way cheaper than TurboTax but still gives you good guidance for gig worker deductions. They have a specific section for rideshare drivers that walks you through vehicle expenses, mileage tracking, and all the common deductions we can claim. For crypto, they handle it pretty well too - you can import from some exchanges or enter manually. The interface isn't as fancy as TurboTax but it gets the job done and saved me probably $100+ compared to the premium options. Might be worth looking into if you want something between FreeTaxUSA and the expensive software!