Uber, Lyft and DoorDash drivers: GST, income tax and the records to keep

Short answer: if you drive passengers through Uber, Lyft or another app, you must register for GST from your first fare, whatever you earn. If you only deliver, through DoorDash, Uber Eats or SkipTheDishes, you register once your taxable sales pass CAD 30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters or in a single quarter. Either way you report all of it, tips included, as self-employment income on Form T2125, and you can deduct the business share of your vehicle costs.

GST for ride-share drivers

Since 1 July 2017, a self-employed driver providing commercial ride-sharing must register for GST/HST regardless of total annual revenue. The small supplier threshold that lets other businesses wait until CAD 30,000 does not apply. Registration takes effect the day you start driving for fares, and you have to apply within 30 days of that day. If you started more than 30 days ago and never registered, the registration has to be backdated.

The CRA says it is your responsibility to charge, collect and remit the GST on every fare. A ride-sharing company you authorize may agree to carry out some of these requirements for you, so check what your platform does on your behalf and what it leaves to you. A registered driver can generally choose the quick method while annual taxable revenue stays under CAD 400,000.

GST for delivery drivers

Delivery is not ride-sharing. A driver who only delivers food or parcels follows the ordinary rule: registration is required once taxable sales pass CAD 30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters or in a single quarter, and is optional before that.

A driver who does both registers for ride-sharing from the first fare. While the combined total stays under CAD 30,000, the registration generally covers only the ride-sharing, unless you ask to extend it to the delivery work. Once the combined total passes CAD 30,000, GST applies to both.

Income tax and CPP

Driving and delivering through an app is self-employment. You report all of it on your return, full-time or a side job, including tips. Platform operators also have to report information about their sellers to the CRA each year, and rideshare and delivery services are among the activities the rules cover, so the CRA can compare what the platform reported with what you filed.

As a self-employed person you pay both halves of CPP on your net earnings. It is worked out on your return and due with any balance owing on 30 April. Nothing is withheld from app payouts, so set money aside through the year for the tax and the CPP.

What you can claim

• Fuel, repairs, maintenance and cleaning, for the business share of your kilometres
• Insurance, licence and registration, for the same share
• Lease payments, or capital cost allowance if you own the vehicle
• Platform fees and commissions the app keeps
• The business share of your phone and data plan

The business share comes from a logbook of the kilometres driven for the app against your total kilometres for the year. A registered driver can also claim input tax credits for the GST paid on these costs, for the business share only.

Records to keep

• The platform’s weekly or monthly earnings statements, and its annual tax summary
• A logbook of business kilometres, with the odometer reading at the start and end of the year
• Receipts for fuel, repairs, insurance and the phone
• The lease or purchase documents for the vehicle
• Your GST registration date and every GST return filed

Questions people ask

Vehicle expenses and the logbook →

CPP when you are self-employed →

The GST quick method →

The sole proprietor year-end checklist →

Bookkeeping for the self-employed →