Can I Write Off My Uber Rides for Work? What About My Manicure?
Short answer: Rides to meet clients, visit properties, or reach a job site are usually deductible for self-employed people. Rides between home and a regular office are not. A manicure, a blowout, and clothes you could wear anywhere are personal. Your rideshare trip history plus your calendar are often all the records you need.
Faye works as a New York real estate agent one season a year and lives abroad the rest. Ida is her tax professional.
Faye sent Ida a year of bank statements instead of formal bookkeeping or a spreadsheet, the way she does most years. She keeps promising to start real bookkeeping, and maybe next year she will let Ida set it up. In the meantime, Ida works from the statements.
Buried in the transportation charges were dozens of Ubers, a bunch of yellow cab fares, and a MetroCard she refills too often to count, all from a season spent moving across three boroughs to meet clients, sign paperwork, and get properties in front of the right people.
In her expenses, Faye had also included a new pair of walking shoes, weekly manicures, a standing blowout appointment every other Thursday, and expensive lotion for her hands.
"I sign contracts with my hands," she said on their call. "They need to look professional."
Ida looked at the nails in the photo Faye had sent: perfect manicure, fresh polish, the kind of finish that takes an hour and costs more than an apartment viewing pays.
"They look professional," Ida said. "But the Ubers might count. The nails won't. Let's start there."
Faye had two choices: deduct all of it and hope nobody asked, or sort out what the law actually allows.
The story pauses here. Here is what the law actually says.
Can I Deduct Uber Rides for Work?
Usually, if you are self-employed and the ride has a business purpose: meeting a client, visiting a property, getting to a job site, or picking up supplies. This applies to any line of work, from consultants to dog walkers.
The exception is commuting. Trips between home and a regular place of business are personal. Trips from home to a temporary work location, like a client's office or a property showing, are generally deductible.
Faye has no fixed office in New York. Each ride goes somewhere for a specific piece of work.
This works because Faye is self-employed. She earns 1099 income, so her rides are business expenses on Schedule C. A W-2 employee in the same situation cannot deduct unreimbursed work rides on a federal return. The better route for an employee is to ask the employer to reimburse them.
Can I Deduct a Manicure, a Blowout, or Work Shoes?
No. Grooming and appearance are personal expenses, even when looking polished is part of your job. Manicures, haircuts, makeup, and cologne do not become deductible because you use them at work. For shoes and clothing, the test is whether they are suitable for everyday wear. A store manager required to wear the designer clothes she sold still could not deduct them, because they could be worn anywhere. Walking shoes fail the same test. Protective gear and costumes you could not wear elsewhere are different. What Records Do I Need for Rides? It depends on where you are working. At home: local rides follow the general rule. Keep records that show the amount, the date, and the business purpose. Away from home: if you are working in a city away from where you normally live and work, local rides there can count as travel expenses. Travel has a stricter record rule, and the IRS generally cannot accept an estimate.
That is Faye's situation. She lives abroad, so her New York rides are travel expenses for work.
Faye already has most of what she needs. Her Uber history shows the date, time, pickup, drop-off, and fare of every ride. Her calendar shows who she met and why. Together, records made at the time of the trip can meet the stricter standard required by the IRS.
Transit, or subway fares, is harder. A MetroCard refill does not say where she went, so a short note of which days were client days fills the gap. Anyone in the same position can build the same file, and it can even be done on a phone.
Faye sent Ida her Uber trip history too, and Ida laid it next to her calendar. Almost every ride lined up with a showing or a client meeting at the drop-off address. Those went on Schedule C. A handful of Saturday rides to brunch did not. The grooming and the shoes came off the list. Faye, who had budgeted for them as a cost of doing business, conceded the point without argument. She would pay for the nails anyway, and she knew it.
"Next season," Ida said, "add one word to each calendar entry: the client's name. That's your whole log. And let's finally set up the bookkeeping."
"Next year," Faye said. She had said that last year too. Then she added up the rides, the season, and the months away from home, and went quiet for a minute. Ida could tell she was wondering whether New York was worth it. Faye did not say so, and Ida did not ask. But that is decision and a story for next year.
If this sounds like you, find your plan at taxjet.co. No judgment, just answers.
The Bottom Line
Self-employed individuals deduct business travel on Schedule C, while employees cannot deduct unreimbursed work expenses on a federal return under IRC §67(g).
Local transportation for business purposes is deductible by self-employed individuals under IRC §162(a), except commuting between a residence and a regular place of business, which is personal under Treas. Reg. §1.262-1(b)(5).
Trips between a residence and a temporary work location are generally deductible under Rev. Rul. 99-7. Grooming, manicures, and clothing suitable for ordinary wear are nondeductible personal expenses under IRC §262 and Pevsner v. Commissioner.
Local transportation at home is substantiated under the general rule of Treas. Reg. §1.6001-1; transportation while traveling away from home is a travel expense subject to IRC §274(d), where estimates are not permitted, but records made at or near the time, such as rideshare receipts paired with calendar entries, can satisfy Treas. Reg. §1.274-5(c).
Sources
IRC §162, trade or business expenses
IRC §262, personal, living, and family expenses
Treas. Reg. §1.262-1, commuting and personal expenses
Rev. Rul. 99-7, temporary work locations
Pevsner v. Commissioner, 628 F.2d 467 (5th Cir. 1980), full opinion on Justia
IRC §274(d), substantiation requirements
Treas. Reg. §1.274-5, records for travel away from home
Treas. Reg. §1.6001-1, general recordkeeping requirements
IRS Publication 463, travel, gift, and car expenses
IRC §67(g), no deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses
Filed under
What Can I Deduct?
Renee Mizrahi, EA, CFE
Our founder spent twenty years in U.S. tax practice. But something shifted when her daughters began living abroad permanently: Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Israel, France, and a long list of places she has genuinely lost track of.
Faye, Ida, and the people in their lives are fictional characters created to make real tax situations easier to understand. The law in every post is accurate. The people are not. Nothing here is advice for your specific situation.
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