Can I deduct car insurance premiums if I'm an Uber driver

[Texas Roger]

If you are deducting mileage, the cost of insurance is included in the mileage deduction allowance.

[Opus 17]

Yes, if you are using the actual expense method.  With the actual expense method, you must keep track of all your work and personal mileage, and all your car expenses (gas, oil changes, tires, other maintenance and repairs,depreciation and insurance).  Then you can deduct the percentage of actual expenses that is your percentage of work mileage.

If you use the standard mileage rate, that rate already includes allowances for all your car expenses (insurance, gas, repairs, etc.) and you can't deduct it again separately.

[SweetieJean]

and be sure the insurer knows you are driving for Uber.

[Georgez]

How would I calculate the Insurance premium I can deduct using the actual expense method. I just started working for LYFT in December would I use 1 month of total insurance as the expense or would I still do it on a percentage basis I used it say 40% of the week and apply that to the entire insurance for the year?

[Vanessa A]

If you only used your car for Lyft for December and drove it 40% of the time for Lyft and 60% of the time for other reasons, then you would take your annual premium divide that by 12 then multiply that by 40%.

Example.  Your premium is $1,200/year.  !,200/12= 100/month.  $100x 40%= $40.  Your insurance deduction, if you are using actual expenses, would be $40. 

[Critter]

The business use percentage is calculated by using the mileage ...  you need to know the total mileage the car when ALL year and the amount of business use miles ... then all the expenses are prorated using these figures if you use the actual expenses method.  The TT program will do the math for you automatically. 

[ralphie50]

I am a Uber driver. Can you clarify for me what can I deduct as far as insurance premium? I understand that Uber carries Insurance coverage for drivers with a $1000.00 deductible. Using actual expenses do I still deduct an amount equal to the percentage of business use? If my premium is $1600/year and I use the car 47% for business do I deduct $752?

Thank you for you reply My email is [email address removed]

Ralph 

[DaveF1006]

Yes an amount equal to the percentage of business will be deducted. The actual business percentage will be determined by the amount of mileage you enter. You will do this by entering the total miles driven during the year, the amount of actual business mileage (should be 47% of total miles). Then enter the remainder of commuting miles to complete the section.

Then as you move through the Turbo Tax questions, you will tell the program you wish to claim actual expenses. You will enter the full amount of all your expenses and Turbo Tax will determine the allocation of the expenses by business mileage/total miles driven.

Now in light of this discussion, have you considered taking the mileage deduction vs actual expenses. It usually results in a bigger deduction. If you have claimed actual expenses in previous years, you cannot claim the mileage deduction though. If this is your first year of claiming, you might wish to claim mileage.