Your app says you made $235 today. Did you?
If you drive for rideshare, food delivery, grocery, or package delivery, the number on your earnings screen is gross pay — what the platform paid out. It is not what you keep. Between gas, vehicle wear, and the taxes nobody withheld for you, the real number is smaller. Sometimes a lot smaller.
Here's how to find it in five minutes.
The real-profit formula
Real profit = Gross earnings − Vehicle costs − Estimated tax set-aside
That's it. Three numbers. The hard part isn't the math — it's that two of the three numbers are invisible unless you track them.
A real 8-hour shift, worked through
Take a $235 shift — 8 hours, 105 miles driven.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross earnings | $235 |
| Vehicle costs (fuel $17 + wear & tear $26) | −$43 |
| Estimated tax (planning estimate) | −$17 |
| Take-home | $175 |
That's a 74% keep rate, or about $22/hour after every cost — a very different picture from the $29/hour the gross number suggests.
Two things to notice:
- The miles matter twice. They cost you money in gas and wear now, and they're the record that supports your mileage deduction later. If you don't track them while driving, you're losing both ways.
- Nobody withheld anything. As an independent contractor you're responsible for self-employment tax plus federal and state income tax — in this example the estimate came to $17, mostly self-employment tax. As a year-round planning habit, a common guideline is to set aside roughly 14 cents of every dollar you earn so quarterly payments never surprise you. Your actual rate depends on your full tax situation — treat all of this as a planning estimate, not a final answer.
The expenses drivers forget
Gas is the one everyone counts. These are the ones that quietly disappear:
- Wear and tear / maintenance — oil, brakes, tires. Miles convert directly into future repair bills.
- Depreciation — every mile lowers what your car is worth.
- Phone and phone plan share — you can't do the job without it.
- Parking and tolls — small, frequent, forgotten by April.
- Insurance share — the portion attributable to work driving.
The recordkeeping checklist
You don't need a spreadsheet habit. You need these five things recorded consistently:
- Miles per shift, logged the day you drive them (not reconstructed in April)
- Gross payout per platform, per shift
- Gas and vehicle expenses with dates
- Phone, parking, tolls, and other work expenses
- A running estimated tax set-aside so the April number isn't a surprise
Do this and tax season becomes a handoff: clean numbers for your tax professional instead of a shoebox of guesses.
The takeaway
Gross is not net. The drivers who know their real number make better decisions — which shifts to take, which platforms to prioritize, and how much of each payout is actually theirs.