Uber Eats and DoorDash Tax Guide: What Delivery Drivers Can Claim in 2026-27
- Baron Tax & Accounting
- 1 hour ago
- 11 min read
Most Uber Eats and DoorDash riders I talk to are surprised to hear this: the ATO doesn't see you as a casual worker picking up a bit of extra cash. The moment you accept your first delivery, you're a small business owner in the eyes of the tax office - not an employee, and not a hobbyist either. That one distinction changes almost everything about how your tax return works.
You'll usually need an ABN, and you only have to register for GST once your delivery income - combined with any other business income - passes $75,000 in a rolling 12-month period. You can also claim a genuine deduction for every kilometre, every dollar of phone data and every piece of safety gear that's actually used for work. Where I see riders lose money, or get their GST wrong, is almost always the same two things: not knowing which car expense method actually suits them, and mixing up the rules for food delivery with the much stricter rules that apply to rideshare.
Below is what applies for the 2026-27 financial year, with the current ATO rates and a worked comparison so you can see, in real numbers, which car expense method actually puts more money back in your pocket.
Table of Contents
Are You Running a Business, or Just Earning Pocket Money?
The ATO doesn't really care what you call it. If you're accepting deliveries through an app in exchange for payment, with an expectation of ongoing work, you're operating as a sole trader - full stop. Doesn't matter if you only do a couple of shifts a week around another job, or if you've never once thought of yourself as "running a business".
This matters because sole traders are taxed completely differently to employees. There's no employer withholding PAYG tax from each payment, no compulsory superannuation guarantee sitting quietly in the background, and no payment summary waiting for you in July. Every dollar Uber Eats, DoorDash or Menulog pays you is assessable income you have to declare yourself - and every genuine cost of earning it is a deduction you have to claim yourself. Nobody does either of those things for you.
Do You Need an ABN?
Yes, and the platforms won't even let you start without one. The ATO expects you to have one too, once you're operating as a business rather than doing a one-off favour for a mate. Applying is free through the Australian Business Register (abr.gov.au), and if your details are in order it usually takes about 15 minutes.
A tip worth remembering: keep the ABN even through a quiet month with almost no income. Cancelling it and re-applying every time work slows down creates more paperwork than it saves, and the platforms will simply lock you out until a new one is issued. For a full walkthrough of what your first return actually looks like as a rider or driver, have a look at our Sole Trader Tax Return Example for Australia.
GST: Where Delivery Riders Get a Better Deal Than Rideshare Drivers
This is the bit that trips up almost everyone, because the rule for Uber, DiDi and other passenger rideshare is not the rule that applies to food and parcel delivery - and the two get confused constantly.
The ATO specifically requires anyone providing taxi travel, which it defines to include ride-sourcing, to register for GST regardless of turnover, from the very first fare. There's no $75,000 grace period for that group at all.
Food and parcel delivery sits in a different bucket. The ATO's own sharing economy guidance groups delivery and courier work - "food delivery, on demand parcel or package delivery" - under general services rather than taxi travel. That means the standard registration threshold applies to you: you only have to register for GST once your GST turnover (delivery income plus any other business income you run) exceeds $75,000 in a rolling 12-month period, or you genuinely expect that it will.
In practice, that means most part-time and even a lot of full-time Uber Eats, DoorDash and Menulog riders never need to register for GST at all - unlike a rideshare driver doing the exact same hours. One thing worth flagging: if you do both rideshare and food delivery under the same ABN, the rideshare requirement pulls your whole business into GST registration, delivery earnings included. So it's worth thinking that through before you pick up passenger work as well.
Once you're over $75,000 - or you register voluntarily - you'll need to charge GST, lodge a Business Activity Statement, and you can start claiming GST credits on your expenses. Below that threshold, none of that applies; you simply declare the income and claim your deductions through the regular tax return, no BAS required. If you do get to that point, our guide to Australia's GST registration thresholds walks through the process step by step.
What Counts as Income?
Report the full amount the platform pays you for the period - base fares, per-delivery bonuses, incentive or quest payments, and any tips that come through the app. A question I get a lot: do you net off the platform's commission first? No. You declare the gross amount, then claim the platform's fee as a separate deduction. It lands on the same taxable income either way, but the ATO wants to see both sides of it, not a number you've already netted down.
Cash tips handed to you directly are taxable too, even with no digital record sitting behind them. If this happens often, a simple running note on your phone - date and amount - is genuinely enough.
Car Expenses: Cents per Kilometre vs Logbook
Most drivers default to cents per kilometre because it feels simpler, and it is - but simpler doesn't mean bigger. For 2026-27 the rate sits at 91 cents per business kilometre, capped at 5,000 kilometres per car, per year. That's a hard ceiling of $4,550, no matter how many kilometres you actually put in for deliveries.
The logbook method has no such cap. You keep a logbook for 12 continuous weeks that's representative of your normal driving pattern, work out your business-use percentage from that, and apply it to your actual running costs for the whole year - fuel, servicing, registration, insurance, interest on a car loan, and decline in value on the vehicle.
For anyone doing meaningful delivery hours, the logbook method almost always comes out ahead, and the gap is bigger than most people expect:
Cents per km method | Logbook method | |
Kilometres driven for deliveries | 12,000 km/year | 12,000 km/year |
Kilometres counted | 5,000 km (capped) | 12,000 km (no cap) |
Rate / basis | 91c per km | 78% business use of $14,000 total running costs |
Deduction | $4,550 | $10,920 |
The trade-off is the 12-week logbook itself, plus the ongoing job of keeping every fuel receipt, service invoice and insurance renewal for the full financial year. If you're only doing the occasional weekend shift and you know you'll stay under 5,000 business kilometres regardless, cents per kilometre is genuinely the simpler option for barely any difference in outcome. If delivery is your main earner, though, the extra admin of a logbook is usually worth several thousand dollars - it's rarely a close call.
One rule that catches people out: you can only use one method per car per year, and you can't switch between cents per kilometre and logbook partway through on the same vehicle.
Riding an E-Bike or Bicycle Instead?
Cents per kilometre is a car expense concession only - it simply doesn't extend to bicycles or e-bikes. If a bike is how you deliver, you claim the actual, apportioned cost instead: the business-use percentage of the bike's purchase price (as decline in value if it cost more than $300, or the full amount outright if it didn't), tyres, brake pads, chain servicing, and battery replacement or charging costs if it's an e-bike.
The same private-use logic applies here as everywhere else. If you also ride the bike for weekend exercise or a trip to the shops, that portion simply isn't deductible. A reasonable percentage worked out from your delivery logs - the total distance shown in your rider app, for instance - is generally an acceptable basis, as long as you can explain how you arrived at it if the ATO ever asks.
Other Deductions Riders Regularly Miss
Beyond the vehicle itself, there's a fairly long list of costs that are genuinely deductible for delivery work, in proportion to how much you actually use them for the job rather than for yourself:
Mobile phone plan and data, for the work-related percentage of use
A phone mount or holder for your vehicle
Insulated delivery bags, food storage boxes and thermal covers
Protective and hi-vis clothing required for the job - a branded delivery jacket or hi-vis vest counts; a plain t-shirt or jeans doesn't, even if it's all you wear while riding
Helmet, wet-weather gear and gloves for bike and scooter riders
Sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat - the ATO does accept these for anyone who works predominantly outdoors
Income protection insurance premiums
Bank fees or accounting software charged specifically for managing the business
On the flip side, what you can't claim: parking and speeding fines, ever, no matter how work-related the trip was; the private-use portion of your phone or vehicle; ordinary clothing that isn't branded or protective; and gym memberships or general fitness costs, even if you'd argue fitness helps you do the job.
One thing worth a mention on its own: superannuation. As a sole trader, nobody is required to pay the Superannuation Guarantee into a fund on your behalf - that part is entirely up to you. Personal super contributions you make yourself are tax-deductible, within the usual concessional contributions cap, and it's one of the more overlooked ways delivery riders can bring their taxable income down at year-end. For the phone side of things specifically, our guide to claiming mobile phone, internet and device deductions goes into more detail.
BAS, PAYG Instalments and Record-Keeping
If you're not registered for GST, there's no BAS to lodge at all - your delivery income and expenses just flow into your regular individual tax return through the business/sole trader section. Once you are registered, whether that's because you've crossed $75,000 or because you also do rideshare work, you'll lodge a BAS - usually quarterly - reporting GST collected on any GST-applicable income and GST credits on your expenses.
If delivery turns into a solid, ongoing income source, the ATO may also ask you to pay PAYG instalments during the year. Essentially you're prepaying tax on your business profit in quarterly chunks rather than copping one large bill at tax time. This is based on your prior year's return, so it doesn't kick in automatically from day one.
Whichever method you use for car expenses, keep everything for five years - every fuel and maintenance receipt if you're on the logbook method, the 12-week logbook itself, phone bills, gear receipts, and a simple log of your delivery kilometres regardless of which method you use. The ATO's free myDeductions tool inside the ATO app is genuinely a good fit for riders with one ABN and no employees; it's built for exactly this level of record-keeping and exports straight into a tax return.
The New Fair Work Pay Floor - Does It Change Your Tax?
Since 17 August 2026, a Fair Work Commission Minimum Standards Order has applied to on-demand food delivery platforms, including Uber Eats and DoorDash. It sets a minimum earnings floor based on your "engaged time" - the period between accepting and completing a delivery - of $31.30 an hour on an e-bike, $31.80 on a motorcycle, and $32.00 in a car, assessed by the platform over a rolling 21-day period. Platforms must also provide a minimum level of personal accident cover, though you're still the one responsible for your own vehicle insurance.
None of this changes your tax position, and I get asked about this a lot. You're still a sole trader, not an employee, so there's still no PAYG withholding and no compulsory super coming from the platform - the order specifically doesn't extend to superannuation. What it does mean, practically speaking, is that your assessable income is likely to run a bit higher than in previous years for the same hours worked. Worth factoring into how much you're setting aside for tax, and worth checking against the $75,000 GST threshold if delivery is becoming your main source of income.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an ABN to drive for Uber Eats or DoorDash?
You do. The platforms require one before you can start accepting deliveries, and the ATO treats you as a sole trader from your very first paid delivery. Apply for free through the Australian Business Register.
Do Uber Eats and DoorDash drivers have to register for GST?
Only once your GST turnover passes $75,000 in a rolling 12-month period, or you choose to register voluntarily. Food and parcel delivery falls under the ATO's standard registration threshold, not the special rule that applies to rideshare.
What's the actual difference between the GST rules for delivery and rideshare?
Rideshare and other taxi travel has to register for GST from the first dollar earned, regardless of turnover. Food and parcel delivery is treated as a standard service, so the normal $75,000 threshold applies instead. Doing both under one ABN means the rideshare requirement pulls your whole business into GST registration.
Can I claim my bicycle or e-bike as a tax deduction?
You can, just not through the cents per kilometre method, which only applies to cars. What you claim is the business-use percentage of the bike's actual costs - purchase price (as decline in value if it cost over $300), servicing, tyres and, for an e-bike, battery and charging costs.
Should I use cents per kilometre or the logbook method?
If you're doing meaningful delivery hours and you're likely to drive more than 5,000 business kilometres a year, the logbook method almost always produces a bigger deduction - cents per kilometre is capped at 5,000 km regardless of how far you actually drive. Occasional or part-time riders who'll stay under that cap anyway are often better off just taking the simplicity of cents per kilometre.
Do I have to pay tax on tips?
Yes, tips are assessable income the same as your delivery fees, whether they come through the app or as cash. If cash tips happen often, keep a simple note of the date and amount as you go.
Does the new Fair Work minimum pay rate change what I owe in tax?
Not the rules themselves, but probably the numbers. You're still a sole trader with no PAYG withholding or compulsory super, but the pay floor introduced in August 2026 means your income for the same hours worked is likely higher than before - worth reviewing against your tax set-aside and the GST threshold.
What happens if I don't declare my delivery income?
The ATO receives data directly from delivery platforms under its sharing economy reporting obligations, so undeclared delivery income is one of the easier things for them to pick up through data matching. Getting caught out can mean amended assessments, the general interest charge on the shortfall, and penalties on top of that.
Get Your Delivery Driver Tax Return Right
Ready to lodge? Start your online tax return with Baron Tax & Accounting, or register your ABN and GST the right way from day one. Not sure whether cents per kilometre or the logbook method suits your situation? Get in touch - it's usually a five-minute conversation that can save you several hundred dollars.
Baron Tax & Accounting | 758 Underwood Road, Rochedale South QLD 4123 | +61 7 3706 3147 | 1300 087 213 | info@baronaccounting.com | Mon-Fri 9:30am-5:00pm
This article provides general information only and does not constitute personal tax or financial advice. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Tax rules change and apply differently to each person's circumstances. Before acting, please seek advice from a registered tax agent. Baron Tax & Accounting accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this article. Source references: ATO (ato.gov.au), Fair Work Ombudsman (fairwork.gov.au) and other Australian government agencies, current as at the date of publication.
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