Uber and rideshare GST and BAS: what drivers have to do

Why rideshare drivers register from the first dollar

GST law requires anyone providing taxi travel to register regardless of turnover, and the ATO’s view, confirmed in the courts, is that rideshare is taxi travel. So a driver earning $6,000 a year on weekends has the same GST obligations as one earning $80,000. You need an ABN (free, from the Australian Business Register) and a GST registration, ideally in place before your first trip.

Delivery-only work is different. Delivering food or parcels is not taxi travel, so a delivery driver uses the ordinary $75,000 threshold. If you do both, the rideshare rule applies to your whole ABN, so the delivery income carries GST too. See delivery driver tax.

What goes at G1 and 1A

The sale is the full fare the rider paid, not the amount the platform deposited into your account after taking its cut. Your monthly tax summary from the platform shows gross fares, tolls, tips, promotions and the service fee separately. Use the gross figure.

• G1, total sales: gross fares plus any incentives and bonuses paid to you, including GST.
• 1A, GST on sales: one eleventh of that.

Tips are income too; include them in your sales. Tolls the rider reimbursed are part of the fare you received, and the toll you paid is a purchase. If you also do delivery under the same ABN, those earnings go in as well.

A quarter with $16,500 of gross fares gives G1 $16,500 and 1A $1,500, even if only about $12,000 actually landed in your bank account.

What you can claim at 1B

The platform’s service fee is a taxable supply to you, and the platforms issue tax invoices or tax summaries for it, so the GST on the fee is claimable in full. That alone offsets a good share of 1A.

Car running costs are claimable at your business-use percentage: fuel, servicing, tyres, registration (the GST component only; the levy parts carry none), insurance, car washes, and lease or interest costs on the business share. Only trips with a passenger or on the way to a pickup are business; driving home is not. A logbook over twelve weeks gives you the percentage, and it also drives your income tax claim. See the logbook method.

Also claimable: the business share of your phone and data, water and mints for riders, dash cam, phone mount, tolls not reimbursed, and any accounting software. Speeding fines and parking fines are never deductible and carry no GST.

Cash basis and the platform payout

Most drivers report on a cash basis, so a week’s fares belong to the quarter in which the platform paid them to you. The bank statement shows the net deposit; the tax summary shows the gross. Software such as FlowFi reads the deposit and lets you record the gross fare and the fee as two sides, so G1 and 1B are right and nothing is double counted. Keep every monthly tax summary; it is your evidence for both labels.

Income tax is separate

The BAS is only GST. Your rideshare profit (gross fares minus expenses, excluding GST) is also taxable income in your annual return, added to any wages from a job. Car expenses for income tax use either the cents-per-kilometre method (88 cents for 2025-26, capped at 5,000 business kilometres) or the logbook method, and the choice affects only income tax, not the BAS. After your first profitable year the ATO will usually enter you into PAYG instalments, which appear on the same quarterly statement.

A rough rule for setting aside: one eleventh of gross fares for GST, less the credits you expect, plus a share of profit for income tax based on your total income. Our sole trader tax calculator gives a starting figure.

The ATO already has your numbers

Under the sharing economy reporting regime, rideshare platforms have reported drivers’ income to the ATO since 1 July 2023. The ATO matches that data against BAS and tax returns. Report the gross figures from your tax summaries and there is nothing to worry about; leave income out and a letter follows.

Dates and habits

Quarterly BAS are due 28 October, 28 February, 28 April and 28 July. Upload your bank statement monthly, keep the tax summaries in one folder, run a logbook for twelve weeks in your first year, and move GST money into a separate account each week. Do that and each BAS is a ten-minute review.