Yes, being a driver for Lyft does mean that you are self-employed. When
you're a driver for a ride-sharing company such as Lyft or
other car sharing service, the most important thing to understand about your
taxes is that you are probably not an employee of Uber, Lyft or Sidecar.
Drivers for these companies are
usually independent contractors, a fact that has tax implications, both at filing time and
year-round. Uber Income is considered self
employment income and you have to complete a Schedule C which is
found in TurboTax Home and Business
(desktop) or TurboTax Self-Employed (online).
Being an independent contractor means that you're self-employed .
As far as the ride-share company is concerned, you're the owner of a separate
business that it uses to provide driving services. So when you receive a
payment, understand that it's not a traditional "paycheck," and
likely no taxes have been taken out.
TurboTax Home & Business (desktop version) https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/cd-download/home-and-business.jsp
TurboTax Self-Employed (online version) https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/self-employed.jsp
