Rideshare & delivery
If you drive for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Skip or Instacart, the CRA treats you as self-employed — you are running a small business, and your return has to be prepared that way. That is good news, because it means a long list of costs you are already paying becomes deductible: fuel, insurance, maintenance, your phone, car washes, and a share of the vehicle itself. There is one rule that catches drivers out every year: anyone providing ride-share services must register for GST/HST from their very first fare, regardless of how little they earn.
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Most small businesses in Canada only have to register for GST/HST once they pass $30,000 in revenue. Ride-share drivers are a specific exception: if you carry passengers, you are required to register from your first trip, no matter how small your earnings are.
Delivery-only work — food and parcels, no passengers — generally follows the normal $30,000 threshold instead. If you do both, it matters which is which. We sort this out for you, including registering you if you are not registered yet and filing the GST/HST return itself.
There is more to it than fits here — the two ways of calculating what you owe, what you can claim back once you are registered, and where you stand if you have been driving unregistered. It is all on our GST/HST page for drivers.
Uber and Lyft give you an annual tax summary, but it does not include most of what you can deduct. The savings usually sit in the expenses you have to reconstruct:
The single most valuable habit is recording your odometer at the start and end of the year, plus your driving kilometres. Vehicle costs are claimed based on the business-use share of your driving, so that ratio decides how much of your fuel, insurance and repairs you actually get to claim.
If you have not kept a perfect log, do not panic — most drivers have not. Bring what you have and we will work with it.
What it costs. Rideshare and delivery returns start at $80, which covers your personal return with the business schedule included. GST/HST returns are $50. Your exact price is confirmed before we start.
See the full price listIf you carry passengers, yes — ride-share drivers must register from their first fare, and the usual $30,000 small-supplier threshold does not apply. Delivery-only work generally follows the normal threshold. We can register you and file the returns.
Yes. Delivery-only work is generally treated like any other small business, so the $30,000 threshold applies. You are still self-employed and still claim the same vehicle and phone expenses.
Your annual tax summary from each platform, your odometer readings for the start and end of the year, and whatever expense records you have — fuel, insurance, repairs, phone bills. Bank or credit card statements help fill the gaps.
Yes to both. Lease payments are claimable, and personal use is handled by claiming only the business-use share of your driving — which is why your kilometres matter.
Not much. Your T4 income and your driving income go on the same return. The driving is still reported as self-employment, with the same expenses available.
A free, no-obligation consultation — in person in Kitchener-Waterloo, or entirely online from anywhere in Canada. Complete information means we can start the same day.
Book a Free Consultation GST/HST for rideshare drivers See our full price list Fill in the rideshare form