Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and the other apps don't withhold tax from your pay. The IRS still wants its money during the year, not all in April, so most full-time drivers need to send estimated tax payments four times a year.
Do you need to pay?
Generally yes, if you expect to owe $1,000 or more in federal tax for the year after subtracting any tax withheld from a regular job. For a driver with no other job, that point comes at roughly $7,000 of profit (earnings minus mileage and other costs), because self-employment tax starts on almost the first dollar.
2026 due dates
The IRS periods are not calendar quarters:
- Income earned January 1 – March 31: due April 15, 2026
- April 1 – May 31: due June 15, 2026
- June 1 – August 31: due September 15, 2026
- September 1 – December 31: due January 15, 2027
When a date falls on a weekend or a legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. You can skip the January payment if you file your 2026 return and pay everything you owe by February 1, 2027. More on the January 15 payment.
How much to pay
Your tax as a driver has two parts:
- Self-employment tax: 15.3% on 92.35% of your profit (about 14.1%), for Social Security and Medicare.
- Income tax: on your profit after the standard deduction, half of your self-employment tax and the qualified business income deduction.
Estimate the year's total and pay a quarter of it each time. The quarterly tax calculator does this for you and lists the due dates. A driver earning about $900 a week, with 350 business miles and $15 of other costs a week, pays roughly $1,430 a quarter for 2026.
The safe harbor: how to avoid a penalty
You won't owe an underpayment penalty if your four payments, made on time, add up to at least the smaller of:
- 90% of your tax for this year, or
- 100% of the tax on last year's return (110% if last year's adjusted gross income was over $150,000).
The second option is handy when your income goes up: pay based on last year, then settle the rest in April without a penalty. The penalty works like interest, day by day, on each payment that is late or short, so a late payment is still better than none.
How to pay
- IRS Direct Pay on irs.gov: free, straight from your bank account, no sign-up.
- Your IRS Online Account, which also shows the payments you've made.
- EFTPS, the Treasury's payment system, if you want to schedule payments ahead.
- A debit or credit card through an IRS-approved processor, for a fee.
- A check with a Form 1040-ES payment voucher.
Choose "estimated tax" (Form 1040-ES) and the right tax year when you pay.
Have a regular job too?
You can raise the tax withheld from your paycheck instead of making quarterly payments: submit a new Form W-4 to your employer. Withholding counts as paid evenly through the year, so it can also make up for a missed quarter.
Don't forget your state
Most states with an income tax have their own estimated payments, often on the same dates. A few states have no income tax at all. Check your state's tax agency website.
Make it painless
Move part of every payout to a separate savings account as soon as it arrives, so the money is there when a due date comes. Gigstrak keeps an estimate of what you owe from the trips, income and expenses you log, and shows the next due date. Get Gigstrak on Google Play.
Sources
IRS Form 1040-ES and its instructions, Publication 505 (tax withholding and estimated tax), and Form 2210 (underpayment penalty). This guide is general information, not tax advice.