Rideshare driving sits in an unusual corner of the Australian tax system. Most sole-trader work is GST-free under $75,000 turnover; rideshare isn't — GST applies from your first dollar of fares. Most workers can pick whether to track car expenses or just claim cents-per-km; rideshare drivers usually need both methods modelled before deciding. And the ATO has been data-matching against platforms aggressively for the last three years, so under-reporting is no longer a viable path. This page covers what an Australian rideshare driver — Uber, DiDi, Ola, Bolt, or any combination — actually needs to lodge each year.
ABN + GST registration — both are mandatory
Step one for any rideshare driver in Australia: get an ABN and register for GST. Both are free and lodgeable through the ABR (abr.gov.au) in about 15 minutes. The ABN identifies you as a sole-trader business; the GST registration enables you to charge and claim GST.
The GST-from-$1 rule is the single most-misunderstood part of rideshare tax. Standard sole-trader work doesn't need GST registration until turnover hits $75,000 in a rolling 12-month period. Rideshare is a carve-out — section 144-5 of the GST Act treats taxi-travel services (which the ATO has confirmed includes rideshare) as needing GST registration regardless of turnover. Drive one fare without GST registration and the obligation kicks in.
Reporting your gross fares (not your bank deposits)
Your income for tax purposes is the gross fare paid by the passenger, not the net amount that lands in your bank account. The platform takes their service fee out of the gross — you report the full gross as income, then deduct the platform fee as a business expense. The numbers should match: gross fares = bank deposits + platform fees withheld.
All major rideshare platforms (Uber, DiDi, Ola, Bolt) issue an annual tax summary that splits the figures correctly. They're available in your driver app or driver portal each July. If you drive on more than one platform, you sum the figures across all of them. The ATO sees the same figures via the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime.
Vehicle expense methods — pick one
Two methods, and you have to pick one for the whole financial year:
Cents-per-km method
88¢ per work-related kilometre, capped at 5,000 km per year. No logbook required, but you do need a reasonable basis for the kilometres claimed (a calendar of driving shifts plus odometer readings is enough). 5,000 km × 88¢ = $4,400 cap. For most rideshare drivers this is too low — you typically clock 5,000 km of actual rideshare driving inside two months of regular work.
Logbook method
12 consecutive weeks of contemporaneous records (start odometer, end odometer, purpose of trip — work or private). The work-related percentage from those 12 weeks then applies for 5 years to all running costs: fuel, registration, insurance, servicing, depreciation, finance interest. For most rideshare drivers this is materially better than cents-per-km because the 5,000 km cap doesn't apply.
The logbook has to be kept for 12 consecutive weeks (not 12 random weeks) and has to be contemporaneous — kept while you're driving, not reconstructed at year-end. Apps like Driversnote, MileIQ and the ATO myDeductions app track automatically. Reconstructing a logbook from platform data after the fact won't pass an ATO review.
Other deductible expenses
- Platform service fees — the percentage Uber/DiDi/Ola withhold from each fare. Deductible in full (and carry GST credits).
- Driver insurance — rideshare-specific add-ons to your standard policy (not the standard private cover, which would have applied anyway). Increasingly required by platforms.
- Phone + data — work-use percentage of mobile phone bills, plus any in-car phone mount or charger.
- Vehicle cleaning / detailing — including the deep clean after passenger spills. Keep receipts.
- Bottled water / mints / phone chargers for passengers — small items but they accumulate.
- Booking-app fees on your driver account — Uber Driver Pro fees, DiDi Premium, etc.
- Tolls + parking — when incurred during a fare or actively-seeking trip.
- Music streaming subscription — work-use percentage of Spotify/Apple Music if used during fares (be conservative).
- ATO BAS preparation fees — your BAS-lodgement service is deductible the year you pay for it.
- Tax agent fees — for both the BAS work and the annual return.
BAS lodgement — quarterly is the new normal
Once you're GST-registered, you lodge a Business Activity Statement (BAS) each quarter reporting the GST collected on fares and the GST paid on expenses. The net is paid to the ATO. For most rideshare drivers this nets out to paying about 10% of gross fares to the ATO each quarter as GST, less the GST credits on running costs.
Quarterly BAS deadlines for FY27 (the year starting 1 July 2026) are detailed in our BAS due dates 2026 guide. Lodging through us as your registered agent gives you the agent concession on Q1, Q3 and Q4 (about 4 weeks more than self-lodging).
The Sharing Economy Reporting Regime — the ATO sees it all
Since 1 July 2023 (income year FY24 onwards), all sharing-economy platforms operating in Australia are required to report driver/host income directly to the ATO under the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR). That includes every fare, every platform, every driver, with quarterly reporting cycles.
The practical effect: the ATO knows your gross income before you lodge. If your reported income on the return is materially less than what the platforms reported, the system flags it and the ATO contacts you. The era of under-reporting rideshare income is over. Voluntary disclosure of past gaps before the ATO contacts you keeps the penalty component much lower.
Common mistakes we see
- Driving for 6 months without GST registration, then realising the GST-from-$1 rule applies and the obligation has been accruing
- Reporting net bank deposits instead of gross fares (understates income; the ATO sees the gross)
- Reconstructing a logbook from app data after year-end — doesn't qualify as contemporaneous; the cents-per-km method is the only fall-back
- Claiming car expenses while also receiving an FBT-free novated lease through a day job — the same vehicle can't be both
- Forgetting the platform service fees as a deduction — typical Uber service fee is 25-28% of gross, so missing it means overstating income materially
- Treating actively-seeking-fares time (logged on, no passenger) as private kilometres — it's actually work-related under the standard test
- Trying to register for the simplified $50/week BAS instalment without being on the "simplified GST" option (which most rideshare drivers aren't eligible for)
Talk to us — fixed pricing, full BAS + return
For most rideshare drivers we run the year as a bundle: ABN + GST registration if needed, quarterly BAS lodgement, annual return. Fixed pricing in writing — sole-trader return $349, BAS $90/quarter, or the bundle at $549/year. We use the registered-agent portal to pull platform data, reconcile against your bank, and flag any gaps before lodging. Discovery call is free; first-time onboarding takes about 30 minutes.
Sources
Rideshare GST registration: ATO — Ride-sourcing and tax; A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 s 144-5.
Sharing Economy Reporting Regime: ATO — Sharing Economy Reporting Regime.
Vehicle expense methods: ATO — Car expenses.
