Can an Uber driver deduct mileage for driving to first pickup or area where they will try to get fares, or just fare miles? What if it's a pre-booked fare they travel to?

[ebork]

Another service I drive for only does pre-booked fares to take kids to and from school and it's some distance to get to the pickup location. Even if IRS doesn't allow Uber miles to first fare, wouldn't they allow this as a deduction?

[NCperson]

@ebork the distance from your home to your "main job" which is your first ride is considered communiting miles and is not tax deductible.  Same thing for the distance from your last ride drop off to home - it's commuting miles and not tax deductible. 

does not matter if it is pre-booked or not.   

look at the chart and explanation on page 12 and the horizontal line in the middle of the circle. 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

milegage from the first pickup and to the 2nd pickup are deductible because you are going between two business locations. look at the parts of the circle where is states "always deductible" 

[Opus 17]

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.