Most Uber and Lyft drivers are sole proprietors who will report their ride share earnings on their Schedule C tax form, but some of you may have an LLC, corporation, or other tax entity that you prefer to operate under. It’s a smart move — by taking your Uber and Lyft earnings under the umbrella of a corporation, you can lower your tax bill.
Neither Uber nor Lyft makes it totally clear how to have your earnings filed under your Employer ID Number (EIN) or another tax ID. And after you do figure out how to navigate each Uber & Lyft’s tax reporting system, there’s often not a lot of reassurance that you’ve done it right and everything will be correctly reported at tax time.
I’ve operated as an Uber and Lyft driver under my S-Corp for a few years now, so I’ll walk you through how you can let Uber and Lyft know that you are operating under an EIN or another tax classification. And I can tell you what happens at tax time each year.
Which tax classifications does Uber accept?
Uber will allow you to operate under many different tax classifications. Most drivers will fall under individual/sole proprietorship, but Uber also allows drivers to operate under the following tax classifications.
- Individual/Sole Proprietor
- C Corporation
- S Corporation
- Parntership
- Trust/Estate
- Limited Liability C Corporation
- Limited Liability S Corporation
- Limited Liability Partnership
- Disregarded entity
How to submit your EIN to Uber
You can let Uber know that you are operating as a business entity by going to vault.uber.com. It’s a nice system that lists all banking and tax options in one form. It immediately displays all of your changes, so you can be sure that Uber correctly received your EIN.
- Log in at partners.uber.com
- Click the Banking tab
- Under Bank Account Details, click Edit
- Scroll to Tax Information and select your tax classification
- Enter your EIN in the “Employer ID Number” box
- Click save, and if prompted to enter a pin, check your text messages to retrieve the pin
At partners.uber.com, click the Banking tab to edit your tax info
How to submit your EIN to Lyft
Lyft’s banking features aren’t as fully-developed as Uber’s, but you can still successfully give Lyft your EIN from the Lyft dashboard in the “Tax Info and Payments” section. Here’s how.
- Log in at Lyft.com
- On the left menu, click “Payout Information”
- Under “W-9 Information Form,” click Edit
- This will open up a new form. Select Corporation/LLC from the drop down and enter your EIN
- Enter your electronic signature and submit
Lyft’s system never displays any part of your EIN displayed on screen after you submit it, and if you re-click “Edit Tax Info,” the EIN field is blank. It makes you feel like Lyft hasn’t correctly received or stored your info, which is not reassuring. But in my experience, Lyft does receive and use the info you input.
What happens at tax time?
One of my fears when I first created my S-Corp was that Uber and Lyft would file a 1099 under my SSN, and I’d either have to spend time correcting that with Uber and Lyft or pay the higher tax rate of a sole proprietor.
Neither company spells it out in huge letters that you’ve correctly listed your EIN, and they don’t specifically say that your income will be reported to your EIN. For a new corporation holder, that might be scary. It was for me.
In my experience, despite the lack of reassurance, both companies sent me a 1099 in January that listed my EIN and corporation name rather than my SSN. I’ve learned that companies don’t need to send a 1099 to a corporation, but Uber and Lyft do anyway. I appreciate getting the 1099s because they reassure me that the income has been properly attributed to my EIN.
So when you file your taxes or have someone else prepare your taxes, you can be assured that the IRS knows that your income is tied to your EIN, not your SSN.
Pedro says
Hi, thank you for all the information. Does your LLC need any type of license (like a taxi, commercial or business) to work with Uber?
DougH says
You won’t need any special license in most cities, no. Some cities require a special license, but for all Uber/Lyft drivers, not only those with LLC or corp. I drove under my s corp and don’t have any special licenses (I’m in CA)
Izzy S says
I have a criminal back ground. Is there a way that setting up a LLC would let me drive under the business entity and not my own name and thus be approved for driving?
DougH says
No, that won’t work. You have to give them your SSN first for the background screening, then after you’re approved you give the LLC
Anthony okam says
Will either uber or lyft allow me to sign up with them providing only my EIN and not my SSN?
DougH says
No. You must sign up with an SSN so they can do background screening. Then when you add bank account and other tax info, you can enter your EIN.
Gregory R Peterson says
You’re right, they don’t make it very clear with Uber. I just listed my C corp and it has the corp name and EIN, but it also has my SSN and my name on the form as well. It won’t let me eliminate my name or SSN. Lets hope it falls under the EIN and not my own. I understand Uber can only background the individual and it needs to be clear who is doing the work, I just wish they would separate the two legal persons in the process. I’m hoping it works. There are ways to convert personal payments into corporate income, it’s just a form the tax man has done for me before on prior businesses I have owned. Not an issue unless you did something you weren’t supposed too while earning money, but that’s none of my business!
DougH says
Thanks for your comments. On the Tax Settings or Banking page, if you see that your tax classification is C corp and your EIN is present, you can be assured that your tax docs at the end of the year will be filed under hte correct entity.
Jerry says
Will Uber allow others to drive for them through your llc or corporation? Like your corporation gets the invoice/check from Uber, and pay the driver minus car usage fees are something.
DougH says
That may be the way it works for Fleet accounts, but I’m not 100% sure. Try to contact Uber at help.uber.com, search for “another account issue” to find a blank contact form
Gregory R Peterson says
I believe each person has to be approved by Uber. I’m pretty sure they don’t let you chose their drivers. They might let you put them under your corporate umbrella, but you need to ask them about that.
Nanette says
what if my LL SCorp has a different name than mine. Do I list the company name anywhere in Uber?
DougH says
All you have to give them is the EIN. the name of the entity doesn’t matter
Chicagolyfter says
I have my S Corp set up, and a small business bank account with a debit card ready to accept Express Pay from Lyft. Once I start depositing money in the business account, can I use it as I like, or do I need to pay myself a salary? I plan on using it only for driving expenses, car payments, and insurance. Can I just withdraw the leftover, or transfer it to my personal checking account?
DougH says
I’m not a CPA or lawyer, and now that you have a corporation it’s probably a good idea to talk with a CPA or tax preparer. That said, generally with an S Corp you transfer funds from a business account to a personal account for personal expenses, and use the business card for business expenses. When it comes to paying yourself a salary, that can be an on-paper accounting entry that you do at the end of year year. In other words, you can transfer money into a personal account and attribute some of it to salary and some of it to distributions at tax time. It’s complicated, so I highly recommend talking to an accountant
Gregory R Peterson says
You are generally both an employee and stock holder on an S corporation. In order to take dividends (The left over profit) and only pay personal income tax on it (unlike a C where both corp and owners are taxed), You have to show a majority of your pay as salary and a minority of your income as dividend. As an employee you have to pay all the fees any employer does, Tax, Fica and the other fun things. I’m told being a sub contractor to the company has other problems as well. Most corporate owners push as many personal expenses as they can into the corporate expense column, but you have to be reasonable about that. A cell phone and a car loan is common, but when you start putting you home mortgage under your business expenses, you might get a visit from someone you don’t care to be visited by. Once you can pay what you can as a business expense, then you give yourself the smallest salary you can live on. That reduces taxes for you. Of course if you get bigger and bigger, there will come a point where you will just take payroll like everyone else because your income is high enough to handle it and you will be much more scrutinized by the IRS. Thats my 2 cents worth. I’m not an attorney or accountant so my statement is only based on my experience and the few things I have learned from professionals. Always check with the official knowledgeable ones for confirmation.