Sample Tax Return: Rideshare Driver Schedule C (2025)

A rideshare driver's return looks simple until you sit down to prepare it. Two information returns, cash tips that appear on no form, a mileage log, platform fees, and then self-employment tax and the QBI deduction stacked on top. This sample tax return for a gig driver walks through each piece the way a preparer works it, using the practice return on this site as the case file. You will see what goes where and why. The finished numbers are left for you to work out.

The sample tax return: a full-time gig driver

Devin Walsh is single, 29, and lives in Orlando. In 2025 he drove for a rideshare app and delivered for a courier service, full time, as a sole proprietor on the cash method. Florida has no state income tax, so the work is all federal. His file holds three things:

• Form 1099-K from the rideshare platform, showing the gross fares riders paid in box 1a.
• Form 1099-NEC from the courier company, showing his delivery pay in box 1.
• His own records: cash tips that no form reports, a written mileage log (18,000 business miles out of 24,000 total), platform service fees, the business share of his phone, passenger supplies, and tolls and parking.

He also made four federal estimated payments. The forms in play are Form 1040, Schedules 1, 2, C and SE, Form 8995, and Form 2210.

Schedule C example: what goes in gross receipts

Line 1 of Schedule C is gross receipts, and the rule is easy to say: report all of it. The IRS gig economy guidance is explicit that gig income is taxable even when no information return reports it, and that includes cash. So line 1 is built from every source, not from the forms alone.

The 1099-K is gross, not net

The Form 1099-K instructions define box 1a as the gross amount of payments "without regard to any adjustments" for fees, refunds and similar items. That means the 1099-K figure is usually larger than what landed in the driver's bank account, because the platform took its service fee before paying out. Report the full gross on line 1 and deduct the fees as an expense. If you report only the net deposits, the line 1 figure will not match what the IRS received, and that mismatch is what triggers a notice.

For 2025, a payment app or marketplace generally has to issue a 1099-K only when payments to a payee exceed $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200. A part-time driver below that line may get no 1099-K at all. The income is still reportable.

The 1099-NEC and the cash tips

Delivery pay from the courier comes on Form 1099-NEC, and it goes on line 1 too. Then add the cash tips from the driver's records. In Devin's file, his records already total the three sources for you. Check that total against the forms rather than trusting it.

Expenses: platform fees and the rest

Each expense goes on its own Schedule C line. For a driver like Devin:

The standard mileage method

For 2025 the business standard mileage rate is 70 cents a mile (IRS Notice 2025-5). The deduction is business miles times the rate. The Schedule C instructions then tell you to add business parking fees and tolls and enter the total on line 9.

What the rate covers

The rate is set from an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of running a car, and it replaces them. Publication 463 lists what you cannot deduct alongside it: depreciation, lease payments, maintenance and repairs, gasoline, oil, insurance and registration. Parking and tolls are the exception.

There is also a timing rule. For a car you own, Publication 463 says you must choose the standard mileage rate in the first year the car is available for use in your business. Devin's car went into service for the business in January 2025, so 2025 is that first year.

Business miles and records

Only business miles count. Publication 463 treats travel between home and a regular work location as personal commuting, which is never deductible no matter how far it is. Personal errands with the app off are personal miles too. The split matters, and the driver's log is the proof. Table 5-1 of Publication 463 calls for the mileage of each business use, the total miles for the year, the date the car was first used for business, and the date, destination and purpose of each use, recorded at or near the time.

When you claim standard mileage and are not otherwise filing Form 4562, you complete Schedule C Part IV: the date the car was placed in service, business, commuting and other miles, and yes or no answers about off-duty personal use, another vehicle, evidence, and whether the evidence is written. Leave Part IV blank and the return is incomplete.

Schedule SE: self-employment tax

A driver's net profit is also subject to self-employment tax, the self-employed version of Social Security and Medicare. Schedule SE works in three moves:

1. Multiply net profit from Schedule C by 92.35% (0.9235). This is net earnings from self-employment. If it is under $400, no SE tax is due.
2. Apply 12.4% for Social Security, but only on earnings up to the 2025 wage base of $176,100 (combined with any W-2 wages).
3. Apply 2.9% for Medicare on all of it. The combined rate is 15.3% below the wage base.

The SE tax goes to Schedule 2 and adds to total tax. One-half of it comes back as an adjustment to income on Schedule 1, line 15, which lowers AGI. A single filer whose earnings pass $200,000 also faces the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax, which is not an issue for most drivers.

An illustration with a different driver

These are made-up figures for a different driver, not Devin's. Say Maria has a Schedule C net profit of $20,000:

• Net earnings: $20,000 × 0.9235 = $18,470
• SE tax: $18,470 × 15.3% = $2,826 (rounded)
• Deductible half, Schedule 1 line 15: $1,413

The QBI deduction

A sole proprietor with taxable income at or below $197,300 (single, 2025) figures the qualified business income deduction on the simplified Form 8995. The deduction is up to 20% of QBI, and it lands on Form 1040 line 13a, after AGI. It is available whether the driver itemizes or takes the standard deduction, and the IRS says it does not reduce net earnings from self-employment. SE tax is figured before it.

Two adjustments catch learners:

• QBI is not just net profit. It is reduced by items attributable to the business, including the deductible half of SE tax (and SE health insurance and retirement contributions, if any).
• There is a cap. The deduction cannot exceed 20% of taxable income before the QBI deduction, minus net capital gain. For a driver with modest income, the standard deduction can shrink taxable income enough that the cap, not QBI, decides the answer.

Back to Maria, who has no other income: her QBI is $20,000 minus $1,413, or $18,587, and 20% of that is $3,717. But her AGI of $18,587 less the 2025 single standard deduction of $15,750 leaves taxable income of $2,837 before the QBI deduction. 20% of that is $567, so her deduction is $567. Run both tests every time.

Common mistakes on a gig driver return

• Double counting the 1099-K and 1099-NEC. Two forms from two companies for two jobs both belong on line 1. But one payment can show up twice, for example courier pay sent through a payment app that issues its own 1099-K. Trace every form to the work behind it before you add.
• Deducting gas on top of mileage. Gas, repairs, insurance and depreciation are inside the 70-cent rate. Only parking and tolls go on top.
• Counting commuting or personal miles. Use the log, not total odometer miles.
• Reporting net payouts. Gross from the 1099-K on line 1, fees on line 10.
• Leaving out cash tips. No form is not the same as no income.
• Skipping Part IV. Standard mileage needs the vehicle questions answered.
• Taking 20% of net profit as the QBI deduction. Subtract the deductible half of SE tax first, then test against the taxable income cap.

Devin's file has one more layer. He made four equal estimated payments, and Form 2210 is on his forms list. Test the payments against the required installments before you call the return done.

Prepare the practice tax return

Read the documents, build Schedule C, carry the profit through Schedule SE and Form 8995, and finish the 1040. Then compare your work to the completed return line by line. That comparison is where the craft is learned.

Prepare this practice return

Sources

• Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025)
• Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040) (2025)
• Notice 2025-5, 2025 Standard Mileage Rates
• Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
• Publication 334 (2025), Tax Guide for Small Business
• Instructions for Form 8995 (2025)
• Section 199A qualified business income deduction FAQs
• Qualified business income deduction
• Instructions for Form 1099-K
• Fact Sheet 2025-08, Form 1099-K FAQs
• Understanding your Form 1099-K
• Gig Economy Tax Center
• New and enhanced deductions for individuals