Home › Guides › What counts as business miles for DoorDash, Uber Eats and Amazon Flex drivers?
What counts as business miles for DoorDash, Uber Eats and Amazon Flex drivers?
In short: miles you drive while doing the work, like heading to a pickup, delivering and going from one order to the next, are generally business miles. Commuting and personal driving aren’t. The tricky part is the drive from home to your first pickup and from your last drop-off back home, which depends on your situation.
The basic IRS rule
According to IRS Publication 463 (chapter 4), business transportation includes getting from one workplace to another and visiting customers. Driving between your home and your regular place of work is commuting, which is personal no matter how far it is. Personal errands are personal too, even if they happen during a shift.
The rules are the same whether you drive for DoorDash, Uber Eats, Amazon Flex or several apps at once. What changes is where the work starts and ends.
Common gig drives, sorted
| The drive | Generally |
|---|---|
| To a restaurant or store to pick up an order you accepted | Business |
| From the pickup to the customer | Business |
| From one drop-off to the next pickup | Business: going from one customer to another is deductible |
| Amazon Flex: from the delivery station to your stops, and between stops | Business |
| Driving to a busy area or waiting for offers between orders | Not directly addressed by the IRS for app work. Log it separately and ask a tax pro. |
| Home to your first pickup, or your last drop-off back home | Depends on your facts (see below) |
| A detour for a personal errand during a shift | Personal for the extra miles |
| A quick lunch stop between two business stops | Doesn’t interrupt business use (Pub. 463) |
| Driving on a day you didn’t work | Personal |
The first and last drive of the day
This is where gig drivers lose or overclaim the most miles, so it’s worth slowing down.
Pub. 463 gives an example of someone with no regular office and no office in their home. For them, the first business stop of the day is treated as their office. The drive from home to that first stop and from the last stop back home are nondeductible commuting, while driving from one customer to another is deductible.
There are exceptions. The Schedule C instructions (line 44b) say travel is business, not commuting, when:
- your home is your principal place of business under the home office rules, and you drive to another work location in the same business (Publication 587 explains who qualifies);
- you have at least one regular work location away from home and you drive to a temporary work location in the same business; or
- you drive to a temporary work location outside the metropolitan area where you live and normally work.
How these rules fit app-based delivery depends on things like whether you run the business from a qualifying home office and where you usually work. Since it can swing thousands of miles a year, it’s worth one conversation with a tax professional. Until then, log those drives so the miles are on record either way.
Amazon Flex and other station-based work
Flex blocks usually start at a delivery station. The drive from the station to your stops, and between stops, is business. Whether the drive from home to the station and from your last stop back home counts depends on the same first-and-last-drive rules above. If you pick up at the same station all the time, ask your tax pro how that affects it.
Personal stops and multi-apping
- If you leave your route for a personal reason, only the miles you would have driven going directly count. Pub. 463 applies this rule when you go between two places of work.
- Running two apps at once doesn’t double your miles. One mile driven is one mile, even if both apps were open.
- A quick stop for a bite between business stops is the kind of minimal personal use Pub. 463 says doesn’t interrupt business use. A long personal detour does.
How to log it so you can sort it later
Schedule C Part IV asks for your business, commuting and other miles for the year as three separate numbers. Note the odometer at the start and end of each shift, mark the miles as business or personal, and jot a note on the first and last drive of the day. Then you or your tax pro can decide how to treat them without guessing. See what the IRS expects in a mileage log for the full list, and the 2026 mileage deduction for what each business mile is worth.
Frequently asked questions
Is driving home after my last delivery a business mile?
Often not. Publication 463 treats the drive from your last business stop back home as commuting if you have no regular office and no qualifying home office. It can be business if your home is your principal place of business or another exception applies. Ask a tax professional about your setup.
Do miles count when I’m driving with no order?
The IRS hasn’t written a specific rule for app drivers waiting for offers. Keep those miles in your log with a note, so you have the record if your tax professional says they count.
What if I stop for gas or food during a shift?
Publication 463 says minimal personal use, such as a stop for lunch between two business stops, isn’t an interruption of business use. A long personal detour is different. Leave those extra miles out.
Are the rules different for DoorDash, Uber Eats and Amazon Flex?
The IRS rules are the same for all of them. The difference is where the work starts and ends, such as a restaurant pickup versus an Amazon Flex delivery station.
I use two apps at the same time. Can I count the miles for each?
No. A mile you drive is one business mile, no matter how many apps were open. Count it once.
General information, not tax advice. Your situation may be different, so check with a tax professional before you file.
Sources
- IRS Publication 463: Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (chapter 4: transportation and car expenses; chapter 5: recordkeeping)
- IRS: Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), line 9 and Part IV
- IRS Publication 587: Business Use of Your Home
- IRS Topic no. 510: Business use of car
Related guides
Want this tracked for you?
Sorting business from personal miles is easier when every shift starts and ends with an odometer reading. Tap Start when your shift begins, type your odometer when you finish, and Work Well Kept keeps the date, miles and app for you. Miles between shifts are counted as personal unless you mark them Business, and the free reports add up business, personal and total miles for any week, month or year.
It’s free to start, with no credit card.
General information, not tax advice. Tax rules depend on your situation and can change, so check with a tax professional before you file. Work Well Kept isn’t affiliated with the IRS or with DoorDash, Uber Eats, Amazon Flex or any other gig app. See our Disclaimer.