Deductions & credits

I don't know for certain, because I don't know if the type of work an Uber driver does at home would be sufficient to qualify their home as their regular place of work according to the rules in IRS publication is 463 and 587.

 

Start by reading IRS publication 463, chapter 4.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-463

 

If your home is your "regular place of business", then all your mileage away from home for work purposes is deductible. If your home is not your regular place of work, then your first trip out for the day and your last trip back, wherever they are, are not deductible, but everything else is, including mileage driven between two work locations on the same day (student transportation and ride share).

 

(Remember that if your student transportation job is a W-2 job, you can't deduct the mileage you drive for that job, but you can still consider the fact that you were driving between two work locations on the same day, when determining how much of your rideshare mileage can be deducted.)

 

Your home is your regular place of work if it is the place where you work most of the time. For people who work in many locations, such as drivers, or for example a home building contractor, the home can be the regular place of work if it is the place where they perform the majority of the administrative and bookkeeping tasks for their job. This would be things like meeting clients, signing contracts, paying bills, and doing other administrative paperwork.  If you don't perform these tasks, then your home is not your regular place of work. If you sometimes perform these tasks at other locations, such as a coffee shop with your laptop, then your home is not your regular place of work.

 

Your home as your regular place of work is also discussed in IRS publication 587.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-587

 

The home office deduction has two tests, you must use your home as your regular place of work and you must use a portion of your home exclusively for work. The exclusive test means that you set aside a portion of your home and only use it for work and never use it for personal purposes. If you can't take the home office deduction because you don't use a portion of your home exclusively for work, but you meet the regular place of work test, then you can deduct all of your mileage as described in chapter 4 of publication 463.