How To Save the Most Money On Your Gopuff Taxes in 2024

What taxes do you pay as a Gopuff delivery partner?

Like other independent contractors, Gopuff delivery partners will pay two types of taxes on their Gopuff income:

1. Self-employment taxes
2. Federal and state income taxes

Let’s break both categories down.

Self-employment tax

Also known as FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) tax, self-employment tax includes Medicare and Social Security taxes.

FICA taxes are split into two portions:

1. The portion deducted from employee’s paychecks — 7.65%
2. A matched contribution from the employer — another 7.65%

As a Gopuff delivery partner, you’re both the boss and the employee. So you’re responsible for paying both halves, for a total of 15.3%. (If Gopuff is your side hustle, though, your day job income will still have a FICA tax rate of 7.65%.)

The good news is, you can deduct eligible business expenses from your Gopuff income when you file. This will lower your taxable income and what you end up owing the IRS. (More on that later!)

Federal and state income taxes

Federal income taxes are progressive, meaning the amount you owe depends on your income bracket. The tax rates can range from 10% to 37%.

Some states also have a progressive system, so what you owe will be based on what you make. Other states employ a flat system, where the same tax rate applies to everyone.

Finally, these states don’t charge income tax at all:

• Alaska
• Florida
• Nevada
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Washington
• Wyoming

Next up on the road to becoming a self-employed tax maven: learning how to deal with your 1099 forms.

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Which forms will you need to file your Gopuff taxes?

Gopuff sends qualifying delivery partners a form called a 1099, which summarizes the income you earned through the platform. The IRS receives a matching version of this statement from Gopuff.

Who qualifies for a 1099? Let’s find out.

Who receives a 1099 from Gopuff?

There are two types of 1099 forms you might receive from Gopuff.

1. 1099-NEC: If you earned between $600 and $20,000 across any number of transactions
2. 1099-K: If you earned at least $20,000, split across at least 200 transactions

Gopuff will send both forms by January 31.

If that’s all you wanted to know, you can skip ahead and learn what to do if you didn’t get a form.

This threshold to receive a 1099-K was supposed to change to $600 (across any number of transactions) for the 2023 tax year, but the IRS delayed that change, so the above rules still apply.

For the 2024 tax year, the threshold is set to change to $5,000. This is intended as a "phase-in" to the eventual $600 threshold, which the IRS still plans to implement at some point.

What if Gopuff doesn’t send you a 1099?

If Gopuff doesn’t send you a 1099, you can still check how much you earned — info you’ll need to take care of your taxes.

“It’s important to remember that income generated from any freelance source should be reported on your tax return, regardless of whether or not you receive a 1099 form,” advises Colin Smith, CPA and founder of CPAExamMaven.

How to find your Gopuff income without a 1099

Click on the “Earnings” tab in the Gopuff Driver app. This will show you a weekly breakdown of your:

• Deliveries
• Tips
• Other details related to your earnings

You can also determine your total Gopuff income by viewing your weekly direct deposits in the “Pay” tab.

What if you receive a 1099-K but earned less than $20,000?

Don’t panic. As long as you know how much you actually earned, errors on your 1099 form aren’t the end of the world.

“If you get a 1099-K but earned less than $20,000, treat it as you would any other tax form you receive and make sure all of the information is correct, especially if you're using the same platform during the 2023 tax year,” says Smith.

“If you spot errors on your ... 1099-K, it's best to notify the issuer and address any incorrect information. Otherwise, these unresolved issues could create headaches come tax time next year.”

With the tax forms you need covered, let’s get moving to our next stop: write-offs.

Write-offs you can claim as a Gopuff delivery partner

One of the benefits of self-employment is that you can write off business expenses on your taxes. This lowers your taxable income, ultimately decreasing how much you’ll owe the IRS.

Business expenses include commonplace items that you need for your Gopuff work. For instance, some common delivery driver write-offs are:

• 💵 Gopuff service fees 
• 📱 A portion of your cell phone bill
• 🔌  Phone accessories, like car mounts and car chargers
• 🎒 Insulating bags for delivering hot food or ice cream

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“Even if you only have a small number of expenses, don't forget to claim them,” says Kari Brummond, a tax preparer with TaxCure and writer on tax-related topics.

“While your income tax might range, self-employment tax is 15.3%.... That means for every $100 you report in expenses, you can save at least $15.30 — and depending on your tax bracket, you could save quite a bit more.”

If you use your car to make Gopuff deliveries, the lion’s share of your tax deductions will probably be related to your car. Here’s how to claim those write-offs.

How to write off your car expenses

There are two methods for writing off your car expenses:

1. Standard mileage
2. Actual expenses

No matter which method you choose, you’ll get to write off some expenses on top, including:

• 🅿️ Work-related parking
• 🛂 Work-related tolls
• 💵 The business-use portion of your car loan interest
• 🪪  The business-use portion of any DMV fees

We’ll go over how to find your business-use portion in a bit. For now, let’s talk about which method to pick. The standard mileage method is often the better option for gig workers who drive a lot for work. But let’s take a quick look under the hoods of both.

Standard mileage method

The standard mileage method requires some sort of mileage tracker — even if it's just a spreadsheet or even a paper notebook. This method allows you to deduct a percentage for each mile that you drive for work.

“Driving for work” includes a number of things, such as:

• Picking up orders
• Making deliveries
• Filling up on gas if you run low during a shift

Those miles are 100% tax-deductible. But what about errands that are only sort of for work?

Can you write off miles to the repair shop under the standard mileage method?

Partially, yes! You can write off a portion of the miles you drive to car maintenance or repair appointments. Your car is a necessary tool for your work, so driving to take care of your vehicle is considered a partial business expense! 

Write off your business-use percentage for those miles. If you drive for work 50% of the time, then 50% of your trip to the body shop is tax-deductible!

How much is the standard mileage rate?

The IRS adjusts the percentage you can claim every year. For the 2023 tax year, the rate will be $0.655 per mile. For 2024, it will increase to $0.67 per mile.

Actual expenses method

The actual expenses method also requires you to determine how many miles you drove for work in the last year, versus for personal trips (and trips related to your W-2 job, if you have one). 

That’s because you’ll deduct the business-use portion of all the money you spent on your car.

So let’s say 40% of your mileage in 2023 was for work, and you spent $12,000 on eligible car-related deductions, including:

• ⛽ Gas
• 🛢️ Oil
• 🔧 Repairs and maintenance
• 🅿️ Parking and toll fees
• 🛡️ Insurance 
• 🚚 Roadside assistance
• 💰 Vehicle lease payments if you rent 
• 🏷️ Vehicle depreciation if you own your car
• 📄 Vehicle registration

Using the actual expenses method, you’d be able to deduct $4,800. (That’s 40% of $12,000.) 

Give both options a whirl to see which is best for you.

Note: If you choose the actual expenses method, you can’t switch to standard mileage in the future. Choosing standard mileage, though, lets you switch back and forth.

Next stop: How to make sure you don’t miss out on any of these savings come tax time.

How to track your Gopuff business expenses

You probably know the importance of tracking your business expenses throughout the year. But going through all of your bank statements to find eligible write-offs might not exactly sound like a joy ride.

Luckily, you can put expense tracking on autopilot with an app like Keeper. Keeper connects to your bank account and (with your help) keeps a record of every time you make a work-related purchase. When you’re ready to file your taxes, you’ll have a business expense report ready to go, which saves you from having to dig through your glove compartment for receipts.

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You can also file your taxes right in the app, and Keeper will fill out your Schedule C with all your write-offs for you.

Now it’s time for our last stop: filing.

How to file your Gopuff taxes

When it comes to filing your taxes as a sole proprietor, the biggest learning curve usually involves the prep work: figuring out what information to gather ahead of time, which forms you need, and your list of business expenses.

Luckily, once you’ve done that, the actual task of filing your taxes isn’t overly complicated. (Especially if you use a filing tool that specializes in 1099 taxes, like Keeper!)

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Here are the three main steps for filing your Gopuff taxes.

Step #1. Fill out Schedule C 

You’ll enter your total Gopuff earnings as well as your write-offs on your Schedule C. Once you subtract your write-offs from your earnings, you’ll be left with your net profit.

Reminder: If you’re doing other gig work, you’ll complete a separate Schedule C for each gig.

Step #2. Fill out Schedule SE 

Now that you have your taxable income, you’ll use it to fill out Schedule SE to determine how much self-employment tax you owe.

If you want to go in with an idea of what that number will be, you can use Keeper’s free 1099 tax calculator!

Step #3. Fill out Form 1040

Form 1040 is used by all taxpayers to calculate their income tax. And Keeper has a tool for that too! If you want to approach your Form 1040 with an estimate of what you’ll owe, you can use our income tax calculator.

When you’re done filling out Form 1040, you’ll attach it to your Schedule C and Schedule SE and send your return to the IRS.

Now that you know how to deal with your taxes, let's talk about when.

When should you pay your Gopuff taxes?

You’re probably familiar with the April 15 deadline, which is when traditional 9-to-5 employees file and pay their taxes. (Unless April 15th falls on a holiday or weekend, in which case the deadline is bumped to the next business day.)

As a self-employed worker, you’ll still need to remember April 15. However, if you expect to owe the IRS at least $1,000 for the year, you’ll have to pay your taxes in four installments, known as “estimated quarterly taxes.” This is basically the 1099 version of the taxes that are deducted from W-2 workers’ paychecks throughout the year.

Quarterly taxes are due on:

• Quarter 1: April 15
• Quarter 2: June 15
• Quarter 3: September 15
• Quarter 4: January 15

Make sure you add these dates to your calendar, because missing a deadline can result in penalties.

How do you know how much to pay for each installment? You can use Keeper’s free quarterly tax estimator to find out! 

And here we are! With your taxes filed, we’ve reached the end of the road.

Of course, another tax deadline is always coming up — and it’s important to stay on top of your expenses throughout the year. We built the Keeper app to help with that. And if you have other questions about filing your 1099 Gopuff taxes, don’t hesitate to reach out.

‍Daisy Does Taxes contributed fact-checking services