Hi, Mark, Kohler here with another tax and legal tip let's talk about driving for uber
[what] a great opportunity right everybody can make a few [extra] bucks driving for uber. That's awesome
But we've got to make sure we report our taxes and do it in a strategic way can actually save a lot
Number one, this is a business embrace be excited about this
This is [a] great opportunity to take tax write-offs as a business owner now
I know some of you that have been w-2 wage earners for years. This is maybe going to freak you out
You're not going to get a w-2 we're going to talk about some of those issues later here in a moment
[but] you've got to remember. This is a business and as you collect your revenue. That's awesome
You're going to report taxes on it, but you also get tax deductions as a business owner
So we're going to be going over that but keep in mind
it's a business number [two] as I said you need to track something and that's expenses track all your
Expenses related to this business as an uber driver
We talked about writing off the vehicle itself
But I also want you writing off cell phones
And dining meetings with your other uber drivers as you strategize and any training meetings
you can go to or anything related to your car little apps or
The cleaning of your car and the different things you're doing to maybe give water to your patrons
and you may even need a home office [and] a computer and a smartwatch to get better or faster to your
Fares that you're going to be driving around
So this is a great opportunity to track all those expenses itself won't travel dining entertainment
Laptops computers track it all now when you meet with your accountant at the end of the year
You can bring all these expenses out and you might trim some of them down
I don't want you to get too aggressive, but if you don't write down these expenses you're going to miss them
So maybe having a separate business bank account or at least tracking a certain credit card you use for business expenses
Or just your regular Checkbook and debit card track
Everything and do your best to put it on an excel spreadsheet if you have to and the bigger you get other businesses you might
Start in the future you'll get organized with your bookkeeping
But do your best to track all your expenses number three riding off your auto now?
This is a big time and on my YouTube channel
You can see other videos about [riding] off your car whether you're leasing or doing mileage, or actual there's lots of options
But let me just give you the two main ones so that you can start thinking about it one
You can do mileage mileage is a great way to take right off spur in a very simple way
You're [gonna] track your miles as you drove her over
there's gonna be easy reports to track how many times you drove for uber and maybe there's some extra driving around there that you'll put
Into your tax return, but you're going to track personal miles separate from your business miles get a good app
Take a good you know
Record keeping a notebook and along with you and keep it in the glove box when you fill up with gas something
But mileage is your first option and typically going to be your best
Especially with the car your other oxygen is going actually where you depreciate the car now if you're buying a brand new car
There's some bonus depreciation
[and] if you use the car more than [50%] for uber driving or any other business [you] have then it makes
Depreciation a much better write-off as well
Where you actually depreciate the car and then you write off gas and repairs and fuel maintenance all those little things
So when you go with mileage, I don't care who pays for the gas. You're just going to do mileage
But when you go actually they have to track all those
Expenses that you're paying for when you're driving the car could even be a lease payment so study up on that
I've got other videos on my Youtube channel my blog articles videos on my website
Hopefully, you'll start to follow me as your business tax consultant my team as we help you through this process
But the auto deduction is a powerful one as an uber driver and finally number four we've got to talk about
Withholdings we've got to think about paying the tax on the net income. We're making remember you're not an employee anymore [anymore]
No, one's withholding from your paycheck. You got to withhold from yourself now
You could just need to do some basic estimates
And maybe you're going to make [corley] deposits or annual deposit with your extension or with your tax return
But you've got to come up with something because you don't want to get blindsided at the end of the year I
Usually recommend to clients to set up a separate savings account just to put some tax money away
And then do quarterly deposits as you work with your account to get on a good system now the estimate is
Can vary dramatically from person to person but I generally recommend that you look at your sales
Look at your expenses [and] kind of estimate how much you're netting on paper every month
And then take [20%] of that and set it aside
Now your tax rate could be a little higher or [a] little lower than that
But at least you're setting aside
[20%] as a ballpark figure to just kind of get rolling so I don't forget about quarterly deposit is an important part of the piece
Bottom line being an uber driver is a great opportunity to make extra money save taxes and better live that American [dream]
I'm
so excited with opportunities like this for people that dip their toe into entrepreneurship and
Start a small business like this use this as an opportunity as you're driving around a new [verte] to think about other businesses you might
Want to start keep living the dream people it's real and being an uber driver is a Gateway drug to living the entrepreneurship dream
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