How do Dashers pay taxes?

When delivering food for Doordash, or any other gig company, one will notice that when they are paid, no taxes are taken out of their money. This is due to Dashers being independent contractors that are in business for themselves. It is not like having a regular job where the employer has taxes taken out of your paycheck for you. For someone that has never been in business for themselves, it will seem very unfamiliar.

Do Doordash drivers have to pay taxes?

Yes, just like everyone else, a dasher will need to pay the government any taxes that are owed. This will be done during tax time just like everybody else. The difference when doing your taxes is that you will not have wages earned. Instead, you will have business income that you need to report along with all business expenses so that you can figure out what your earnings were for the year.

Is it complicated to figure out my Doordash taxes?

Just like anything else, it is not difficult at all if you know what you are doing. If you are clueless about how to do your taxes yourself, there are of course tax preparers that can do your taxes for you. They will charge you a small fee, but that fee can also be a tax write off just like the gasoline you use to dash and any other expenses used for your business which can also include your cell phone bill.

I would suggest that anybody try to do their taxes themselves as it really is not that complicated. If you never try, you will never learn. Personally, I always file my Federal taxes for free on FreeTaxUSA.com. It will guide you step by step on how to do your taxes.

Will I owe taxes when driving for Doordash?

Not necessarily, there are some dashers that do not owe any taxes to the government. In fact, you might even receive a refund. Every person is different. Just like when you file taxes for a regular wage job, it will depend on what your AGI (adjusted gross income) is, how many dependents you have, how much your business expenses were, etc.

Mostly all dashers will be classified as a sole proprietorship. This means that you own the business yourself and do business under your regular name. Doordash earnings will be blended in with your overall earnings if you work a regular wage job or have other sole proprietorship businesses. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you are guaranteed to owe taxes to Uncle Sam just because you are in business for yourself.

It's nice not having any taxes taken out of your Doordash pay

As you receive your Doordash payments throughout the year, it can be very nice not having any taxes taken out. This is more  money in your pocket to get you through your expenses in life. If someone thinks that they may owe taxes at the end of the year, it would probably be a good practice to save a little bit of money here and there in case they owe taxes at the end of the year. In closing, I'd like to say that it should never be thought that Dashers will always owe a ton of money.