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Do Uber and DoorDash drivers have to pay quarterly taxes?
Only if you'll owe more than $1,000 at tax time. Even then it's one number and four dates. Here's how to find your number in about ten minutes.
Updated September 2026 · 5 min read
Nobody tells you this when you start driving: the app doesn't take taxes out. Your first year you find out at filing time, usually as a bill. Quarterly taxes are how you stop that bill from surprising you again. They're simpler than the name makes them sound. One number, four dates.
The short answer
You need to pay during the year only if you'll owe more than $1,000 when you file. Below that, nothing is required. File in April like anyone else. Drive a few hours a week alongside a W-2 job with decent withholding, and you may never cross the line. Drive full-time, and you almost certainly do.
Why the apps don't handle it
To the IRS, you're not an employee of Uber or DoorDash. You're a one-person business they pay. No employer means no withholding, so the tax on your driving money is yours to send in. There are two pieces: regular income tax, plus self-employment tax of 15.3%, which is the Social Security and Medicare that an employer would normally split with you.
Here's the part that saves most drivers real money: both taxes apply to your profit, not your payouts. Every business mile comes off the top first, at 70 cents a mile for 2025. A driver with $40,000 in payouts and 20,000 business miles is taxed on something closer to $26,000. Track your miles. It's the whole game.
How to find your number
- 01Start from profit, not payouts. Take what the apps have paid you this year, subtract your miles times the mileage rate and any other real costs (phone share, supplies). That's the number tax applies to.
- 02Use last year's shortcut if you filed. Find the "total tax" line on last year's return, divide it by four, and pay that each quarter. Pay 100% of last year's total this way (110% if you made over $150,000) and the IRS charges no penalty, even if you end up owing more in April. This is the official safe harbor, not a trick.
- 03Pay online. IRS Direct Pay at IRS.gov, from your bank account, no login needed. Choose "Estimated tax (1040-ES)" and the year. Save the confirmation email. Paper vouchers work too; the confirmation email is easier to find in April.
- 04Mark the four dates. Mid-April, mid-June, mid-September, and mid-January. Set the reminders now, while you're thinking about it.
Have a W-2 job too?
There's an easier lever: raise the withholding at your day job (a new W-4 with an extra amount per paycheck) until it covers the driving taxes. Withholding counts as paid evenly through the year, no quarterly dates to remember.
If you miss a quarter
Nothing dramatic happens. The charge for paying late works like interest on the amount you were short, counted by the day: a few percent a year, not a fine that doubles your bill. Pay when you remember, and the meter stops on what you've covered. The mistake isn't missing June. It's letting a missed June talk you out of September.
The shortcut
This math is what our Quarterly Tax Plan does. You answer a few questions in plain words (what you've made so far, what you drive) and it hands back the plan: set aside this much, here are the four dates, here are the vouchers. When your year changes, the number changes with it.
Or skip the math.
Answer a few plain questions about what you've made so far this year, and we hand you the whole plan: the amount to set aside, the four dates, and the payment vouchers. It updates as your year changes. Free, no account.
Get my quarterly number, free →