Cell phone usage for Uber driving - can this be deducted? How to calculate?

[mailchadrussell]

I have earned income by working as an Uber driver. In order to do so, I am required to use a smartphone with appropriate data capabilities. Can a portion of my cell phone bill be deducted as a business expense? How might I calculate this?

[AndreaG]

Yes. A portion of your cell phone bill can be taken as a deduction. There are multiple ways that you can determine how much should be deducted. One way, would be to estimate the percentage of time that you use your phone for this work, based on how many hours you work in a week or maybe the average number of hours you work in a week if it varies. Then deduct this percentage of the total bill.

This is a very informative Turbo Tax article that talks about income and expenses for Uber drivers. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Self-Employment-Taxes/How-to-Use-Your-Uber-1099s--Tax...

[olagem]

hello, we did not keep track of hours on the job. what else can we do?

[ThomasM125]

You can estimate the time you use the phone for business versus personal and multiply that percentage by the phone bill to arrive at the deductible cost of the phone. It is best to keep some type of log, however, as you may need to defend the business use of the phone if you get audited.

You can deduct any expense that is ordinary and necessary for you business activity. So that would include the cost of maintaining your vehicle, which you could do by either tracking mileage or deducting the cost of the vehicle, gas, insurance and repairs.

Also, you can deduct supplies. If you travel overnight on business, you can deduct the cost of meals and lodging.