Uber & Rideshare Driver Tax Deductions (Australia)
The complete list of what you can claim — and the costly mistakes that trigger the ATO
If you drive for Uber, DiDi, Ola or a delivery platform, your car is almost certainly your single largest tax deduction — and most drivers claim only a fraction of it. The difference between guessing and doing it properly is regularly thousands of dollars a year.
Rideshare is different from almost every other side hustle in Australia, and two rules trip drivers up before they even start: you must register for GST from the very first dollar, and your car can be claimed two completely different ways — one of which is capped, and one of which is not. Get those two right and the rest is a checklist.
General information only, not personal tax advice. Tax rates and thresholds change every year and your situation is unique — verify current figures with the ATO (ato.gov.au) or a registered tax agent before lodging.
First, the rule that catches every new driver: GST from dollar one
For most small businesses, you only register for GST once your turnover hits $75,000. Rideshare is the exception. Because ride-sourcing is treated like taxi travel, the ATO requires you to register for GST as soon as you start driving — regardless of how little you earn.
That sounds like bad news, but it cuts both ways:
- You must remit 1/11th of your fares as GST to the ATO (the platform reports your income directly, so there is nowhere to hide).
- But you also get to claim the GST credits on your business expenses — fuel, servicing, your phone, car washes and more. For a working car, those credits add up fast.
You'll need an ABN, a GST registration, and you'll lodge a Business Activity Statement (BAS) — usually quarterly. This is exactly the kind of record-keeping that turns into a nightmare if you leave it to a shoebox in June, and a non-event if you capture it as you go.
(Delivery-only drivers — Uber Eats, DoorDash, Menulog — are treated differently to passenger rideshare: the compulsory-GST rule applies to ride-sourcing. If you do both, or only deliver, check your specific GST position. See the FIGURES note above.)
The big one: claiming your car the right way
You can claim your car expenses using one of two methods — and you can only use one per car, per year. Choosing the wrong one is where drivers quietly lose the most money.
Method 1 — Cents per kilometre (simple, but capped)
You claim a set rate for every business kilometre, up to a hard cap of 5,000 business kilometres. At the FY2024–25 rate of 88 cents per km (verify the current year's rate), that's a maximum deduction of $4,400 — and not a cent more, no matter how far you drove.
This suits the occasional, part-time driver. But a full-time rideshare driver can easily do 25,000–40,000 work kilometres a year. For them, the cap leaves a fortune on the table.
Method 2 — Logbook (more work, no cap)
You keep a 12-week logbook to work out the business-use percentage of your car, then claim that percentage of your actual running costs — with no kilometre limit. The logbook stays valid for five years, so it's a one-off effort that pays off for half a decade.
Under the logbook method you claim your business-use % of:
- Fuel
- Servicing, repairs and tyres
- Registration and insurance
- Interest on a car loan (or lease payments)
- Depreciation (the decline in value of the car, subject to the car cost limit)
For a high-kilometre driver, this is almost always the bigger claim. The catch is the record-keeping — which is precisely the part TaxBot automates.
The full rideshare deduction checklist
Beyond the car, here's what drivers routinely forget. You can only claim the work-related portion of each — if you use something 60% for driving and 40% personally, you claim 60%.
- Platform service fees & commissions — Uber/DiDi take a cut of every fare. That cut is a deductible business expense. (It's in your monthly statements.)
- Phone & data — your work-use percentage of the bill. For a full-time driver running navigation and the driver app all shift, this percentage is high.
- Tolls incurred while working.
- Parking while waiting for or picking up passengers (not parking fines).
- Car washing & cleaning — keeping the car presentable for passengers is a genuine cost.
- Water, mints and amenities you provide to passengers.
- Phone mount, charger and cables used for driving.
- Fees & subscriptions — bank fees on the business account, accounting/tax-app subscriptions, and the cost of a registered agent.
- Safety items — dashcam, first-aid kit, hand sanitiser.
What you CANNOT claim (the audit traps)
- Normal clothes. Everyday clothing isn't deductible, even if you "wear it for work".
- Fines. Speeding and parking fines are never deductible.
- Private travel. Driving the kids to school in the same car is private use — it must come out of your business-use percentage.
- The drive from home before you go online is generally private travel. Your business kilometres start when you're available for / accepting trips.
- The whole car if you also use it privately — only the business-use share.
Real numbers: why the method matters
Meet Sam, a full-time Uber driver in Melbourne
Sam's year:
- Total kilometres driven: 40,000
- Business kilometres: 30,000 (75% business use, per a valid logbook)
- Fuel: $6,800
- Servicing, tyres & repairs: $2,400
- Registration & insurance: $2,100
- Depreciation: $4,500
- Total running costs: $15,800
Cents-per-km method:
Capped at 5,000 km × $0.88 = $4,400 deduction
Logbook method:
$15,800 × 75% business use = $11,850 deduction
Difference: $7,450 in extra deductions — before you've even added phone, tolls, cleaning and platform fees. At a marginal rate of 32.5%, that's roughly $2,400 back in Sam's pocket, just from picking the right method and keeping a logbook. (Figures illustrative — verify current rates.)
This is the whole game for full-time drivers: the cents-per-km cap quietly limits you to $4,400 while your real, documented costs are two to three times that.
The four mistakes that get drivers audited
The ATO receives your income data straight from the rideshare platforms and matches it to your return. So the risk isn't under-reporting income — it's over-claiming deductions you can't support.
1. No logbook, but claiming logbook-method costs. If you claim actual running costs, you need a valid 12-week logbook. No logbook = the claim can be disallowed.
2. Claiming 100% of the car. Almost nobody uses their car only for rideshare. Claiming no private use is a red flag.
3. Claiming GST credits without tax invoices. Keep the receipts — bank statements alone often aren't enough for larger claims.
4. Forgetting to set GST aside. 1/11th of every fare belongs to the ATO. Drivers who spend it get a nasty BAS shock. Move it to a separate account as you earn.
How TaxBot makes this effortless
Rideshare tax is really a record-keeping problem — and that's exactly what TaxBot is built for:
- Snap every expense — fuel, car wash, phone bill, mints. TaxBot's AI reads the receipt, categorises it, and works out the deductible and GST portions for you.
- Trip tracking → a compliant logbook so you can prove your business-use percentage and beat the cents-per-km cap.
- GST set-aside view so you always know what you owe at BAS time and never spend it by accident.
- Tax-time report — a clean, category-by-category summary ready for your return or your agent, instead of a shoebox.
Your action plan
- Register for an ABN and GST before (or as soon as) you start driving.
- Open a separate account and move 1/11th of every fare into it for GST.
- Start a 12-week logbook today if you drive more than ~5,000 work km a year — it's valid for five years.
- Capture every expense as it happens — the deductions you forget are the money you lose.
- Review before 30 June and lodge with confidence.
Your car is working hard for you. Make sure your tax return knows it.
