Taxes for Grubhub Doordash Postmates Uber Eats Instacart Contractors

What kind of resources are out there about taxes for couriers with gig companies like Grubhub, Postmates, Instacart, Doordash, Uber Eats and others?

There are way too many. There are not enough.

It's kind of both, really. There are a million things, articles, videos and books about self employment taxes.

But what is out there specifically about taxes for those of us who deliver with Grubhub, Postmates, Uber Eats, Doordash, Instacart or other gig companies?

Most articles you find try to cover everything in one article. Too often, that kind of information leaves you with more questions than you started with.

You'll find a lot of videos on Youtube with bad or incomplete information.

It does seem there are more resources for rideshare drivers than for delivery. Many of the same principles apply, however many things are different.

Taxes for Grubhub Doordash Postmates Instacart Uber Eats: The information contained in this information series is for educational and informational purposes only. This information is not intended to be and should not be considered to be legal, tax, or any other professional advice. Information is provided as a best effort to research useful information on this topic but makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of information provided. Suggestions and ideas presented are based on my experiences and opinions. You should seek your own professional assistance to help with your unique tax and financial situation and needs. — The Delivery Driver's Tax Information Series Disclaimer

A tax guide for you.

I've put some articles up over time that are meant to help you get a general understanding of how taxes work. Those are general overviews, such as this video I put together.

I thought it would be helpful to provide more detail on some of these things.

Some of you will have more in depth questions about how miles and car expenses work. Others might want to know more about other deductions. Or how about what the Schedule C is all about are, or how much you should save?

So I decided to create this series of articles that goes into a bit more detail about all of these different parts of your taxes.

I'm not a tax pro and this is not tax advice.

Let me be clear: I'm not a tax professional.

This is not meant to be tax advice. All I'm doing here is providing information. I'm trying to give you a bigger picture view of how taxes work and how they apply to you in your delivery business as you contract with Doordash, Uber Eats, Instacart, Grubhub, Postmates or any other delivery gigs.

I really really suggest you find a tax professional who understands self employment and gig economy taxes. They can look at your specific situation and help you out.

If I'm not a tax pro, why would I put out a tax guide?

Because I'm in the field. I'm out there delivering like you are. And I've dealt with self employed and business taxes for a number of years.

I figured that I could find the information that answers your tax questions, and put it together in a way that applies to your delivery business. I'm not a tax expert but I relied a lot on tax experts to put this all together.

Get a tax pro.

And in my opinion, a tax preparer is not a tax pro. They're trained to do the software. Don't rely on the sign twirlers and big box store outposts.

Find someone who knows self employment tax inside and out. They'll pay for themselves.

An overview of the tax guide

A delivery contractor holding an umbrella to protect against taxes raining down — It is too easy to get into trouble with taxes as an independent contractor. Think of this guide as something like this guy's virtual umbrella protecting against taxes raining down.

Here's what I wanted to do.

I wanted to drill down into the different things you're going to wonder about.

There are so many sub topics about delivery contractor taxes that you and others have questions about. You can't cover them well enough with a single article or even with the video above.

You can scroll down to find a list of all the articles in the guide. If you want to see them in an outline view, check out the side bar (or if you're on a mobile device, scroll down even further).

The first articles dive into an overview of taxes, and especially understanding what your taxes are based on.

Then we get into some articles about your income, your 1099's and how that works.

After that, we talk about expenses. There are a few articles about car expenses, because for most of us, that's the big one. We put a TON of miles on our car, and if you don't get that one right you could cost yourself a bunch.

Then we'll get into some information on how the taxes themselves are done and wrap up with information on saving for taxes through the year.

The Tax Guide for Grubhub, Uber Eats, Instacart and Grubhub Contractors

Here's a list of articles in the tax guide:

Independent Contractor Taxes

Taxes are particularly challenging for independent contractors for gig economy apps like Doordash, Instacart, Uber Eats, Grubhub and others. We have tax related articles listed under the following sub categories.