Accountants for Taxi, Private Hire and Delivery Drivers

Yes, if your gross self-employment income from driving exceeds the £1,000 trading allowance in a tax year you must register for Self Assessment. This applies to taxi drivers, Uber and Bolt drivers, Deliveroo and Just Eat riders, DPD and Amazon Flex couriers, HGV drivers and any other self-employed driver. You must register by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which you started.

The trading allowance lets you earn up to £1,000 of gross self-employment income in a tax year without telling HMRC or filing a return. Almost all drivers earn well above this, so it rarely helps full-time drivers. If your driving income is over £1,000 you must register for Self Assessment, even if you also have a full-time PAYE job. You report the driving income on the self-employment pages of your return.

The online filing and payment deadline is 31 January following the end of the tax year, which runs to 5 April. Miss it and HMRC charges an automatic £100 penalty, even if no tax is due, with further penalties and interest building up the longer it is late. Filing early does not mean paying early — you still pay by 31 January, so you can prepare your return well in advance and keep the cash until the deadline.

Yes. Even if you have a full-time PAYE job and drive for Uber, Deliveroo or a courier firm in the evenings or at weekends, the driving income is self-employment and must be declared once it is over the £1,000 trading allowance. You keep your PAYE job as normal and add the self-employment pages to a Self Assessment return. Your tax is then worked out across all your income combined.

Allowable expenses vary by driver type but commonly include business mileage (45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, 25p thereafter), or actual vehicle running costs such as fuel, insurance, servicing, MOT, repairs and tyres. Also mobile phone costs, platform commission fees, parking for business journeys, licence fees, accountancy fees, and for HGV drivers reasonable subsistence and overnight costs. The exact claim depends on your records, your vehicle and how it is used.

No. For a given vehicle you must choose either the simplified mileage rate of 45p and 25p, or actual running costs plus capital allowances — you cannot mix both on the same vehicle. Once you choose simplified mileage for a vehicle you must keep using it for that vehicle. If you run a van used only for business with no private use, claiming actual costs is often more beneficial. We compare both methods before preparing your return.

If you claim the simplified mileage rate, the purchase cost is already built into that rate and cannot be claimed separately. If you claim actual costs instead, you may claim capital allowances on the business-use portion of the vehicle. Vans used wholly for business can often be claimed in full in the year of purchase, while cars are restricted based on CO2 emissions. We work out which method gives you the better result.

Self-employed HGV and lorry drivers who stay away from home overnight for work can claim the reasonable cost of meals and accommodation they actually incur — for example a hotel, or an evening meal and breakfast when sleeping in the cab. The fixed industry overnight subsistence rates that are often quoted are part of an employer-to-employee scheme that needs an HMRC approval notice, so they work differently for the self-employed. The key is to claim genuine costs and keep a clear log of nights away, routes and receipts.

You register for Self Assessment, keep a record of your takings and your allowable expenses, then report the total on the self-employment pages of your return by 31 January. In practice the work is in the records rather than the form: fares from each source, mileage, fuel, insurance, vehicle costs, licence and plate fees, radio or circuit fees, and platform commission if you take app work. We prepare and file the return for a fixed fee, and tell you what you owe well before the payment date.

Alongside mileage or actual vehicle running costs, taxi and private hire drivers can usually claim their hackney or private hire licence fee, vehicle plate and testing fees, circuit or radio fees, platform commission, insurance, cleaning, parking on business journeys, mobile phone, and accountancy fees. Fines and parking penalties are never allowable. If you drive the same vehicle privately, the claim is restricted to the business proportion.

Since April 2022, HMRC requires all taxi and private hire drivers to complete a tax conditionality check when renewing a licence. The check confirms you are correctly registered for tax and takes a few minutes online, giving you a code for the licensing authority. Authorities will not process a renewal without a valid check. If you are unsure whether you are correctly registered, contact us before your renewal date.

One. You register as self-employed once and report all your driving income on a single Self Assessment return, whether it comes from a local circuit, Uber, Bolt, Veezu or private jobs. Keeping the income from each source clearly separated in your records makes the return straightforward and makes it easier to see which work is actually paying you best.

No. All of these platforms treat drivers and riders as self-employed, so no tax is deducted at source. You receive your income gross, less platform commission, and are fully responsible for registering, keeping records and filing a Self Assessment return each year. HMRC also receives income data directly from many platforms under digital reporting rules, so under-declaring is increasingly likely to be picked up.

Yes. You register as self-employed once and report all income — from DPD, Amazon Flex, Evri, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber Eats or any other platform — on a single Self Assessment return. You do not file separately for each platform. Clear income records from each source make the return straightforward.

We support all self-employed driver types: taxi and private hire drivers, Uber, Bolt, Veezu and Ola drivers, food delivery riders including Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, parcel and courier drivers including DPD, Amazon Flex, Evri, Yodel and Royal Mail, HGV and lorry drivers, chauffeurs, van and owner-driver businesses, and limited company courier or delivery operations. We have a dedicated page for each category with more detail.

Most self-employed drivers operate as sole traders, which is simpler and suits most income levels. A limited company can become more tax-efficient at higher profit levels but involves more administration and cost. For taxi and private hire drivers, going limited can also affect things like mortgage applications and pension treatment. We can model both options against your actual figures rather than a rule of thumb.

Only if your taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. Most individual drivers never reach this. Note that Uber acts as the VAT principal on UK rides, which makes the position different from a standard sole trader. Courier and delivery operators running fleets or multiple drivers are far more likely to approach the threshold — contact us if you are getting close.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to sole traders with qualifying income — that is gross income, not profit — over £50,000 from April 2026, over £30,000 from April 2027 and over £20,000 from April 2028. Because the test uses gross income, a full-time driver can be caught by it on turnover that looks nothing like their take-home pay. Affected drivers must keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC plus a final declaration. We help drivers get ready ahead of their start date.

Keep platform earnings statements from each platform you work with, bank statements, a mileage log showing date, start and end point, purpose and miles, fuel receipts, vehicle insurance and service documents, MOT certificates, licence renewal receipts, phone bills, any HMRC letters, and for HGV drivers overnight stay logs and subsistence receipts. HMRC requires self-employed records to be kept for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline.