Delivering for Uber Eats on evenings and weekends is self-employment, even when it sits alongside a full-time job. Whether you need a tax return depends mainly on your gross delivery income for the tax year, and what you can claim depends on whether you deliver by car, motorcycle or bicycle. The wider rules on tax records for Uber, Bolt and delivery work apply if you use more than one app, while the records below are specific to part-time courier work.
The 2025 to 2026 return is the one most couriers are working on now. Paper returns are due by 31 October 2026, online returns by 31 January 2027, and any tax owed must be paid by 31 January 2027, according to HMRC’s Self Assessment deadlines.
When a Part-Time Courier Needs a Tax Return
The trading allowance lets you receive up to £1,000 of gross trading income in a tax year without telling HMRC, unless another rule requires a return. Gross means everything the work brings in before fuel, bike repairs or any other cost, and tips count as part of it. HMRC’s self-employment notes list tips, fees and commissions in turnover. The £1,000 covers all your trading income together, so Uber Eats, another delivery app and any other side work are added up, not tested separately.
Above £1,000, you need to register. The notification deadline for 2025 to 2026 was 5 October 2026. If you register for Self Assessment after that date, HMRC sends a letter or email giving a filing deadline three months from its date, but the tax is still due by 31 January 2027 and a penalty is possible for telling HMRC late. Couriers follow the same steps as drivers when registering as self-employed.
In March 2025 the government announced plans to raise the reporting threshold for trading income from £1,000 to £3,000 within this parliament. HMRC’s Tax Help for Hustles campaign says a new online reporting tool is expected by 2029, and that anyone earning over £1,000 from side work must still tell HMRC in the meantime. Until the change takes effect, the £1,000 test applies.
What Uber Eats Reports to HMRC
Under digital platform reporting rules that started on 1 January 2024, platforms collect your name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number and report your earnings to HMRC each January for the previous calendar year. HMRC names delivering food as an example of a personal service covered by the rules. The first reports, covering 2024, were due by 31 January 2025, and platforms must give you a copy of what they report.
That copy does not mean you owe tax, and it does not replace your own records. It runs from January to December, split into calendar quarters, and shows what you earned less any fees, commission or taxes the platform deducted. Your return runs from 6 April to 5 April, so the platform total will rarely match the turnover on your return. Expect HMRC to have a figure for your delivery earnings, and keep records that explain any difference.
Matching the Platform Report to Your Tax Year
The fictional example below shows how a bicycle courier could build 2025 to 2026 income from two calendar-year sources. It illustrates the method only and does not describe a real courier. Use your weekly statements for the edges of the year, because the report’s second quarter starts on 1 April and the report for 2026 is not due until January 2027.
| Period | Source used | Belongs to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 April 2025 | Weekly statement for that week | 2024 to 2025 return, so left out |
| 6 April to 30 June 2025 | 2025 report second quarter, less the 1 to 5 April earnings | 2025 to 2026 return |
| July to September 2025 | 2025 report third quarter | 2025 to 2026 return |
| October to December 2025 | 2025 report fourth quarter | 2025 to 2026 return |
| January to 5 April 2026 | Weekly statements, since the 2026 report is not yet issued | 2025 to 2026 return |
| Cross-check | Sum of all weekly statements from 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 | Should agree with the rows above |
If the totals differ, look first for tips paid after the week they were earned, refunds or adjustments, and any fees the report has already taken off. Note the reason next to the figure and keep the report with your records for the year.
Trading Allowance or Actual Costs
Once gross income is over £1,000, you choose between deducting the £1,000 trading allowance and deducting your actual allowable expenses. You cannot do both, and the allowance cannot create a loss. A bicycle courier with few costs will often find the allowance simpler, while a car courier covering many business miles may find actual costs or the mileage rate larger. Either way, keep the records below, because you cannot compare the two options without them.
Courier profit is taxed together with any salary, in the same way as driving profit alongside a PAYE job, so the job can use up the Personal Allowance or push delivery profit into a higher band.
Vehicle Rules for Cars, Motorcycles and Bicycles
HMRC’s simplified expenses rates let a sole trader claim a flat amount per business mile instead of fuel, insurance, repairs and other running costs. For cars the rate was 45p for the first 10,000 business miles before 6 April 2026 and is 55p for 2026 to 2027, with 25p per mile after that. Motorcycles use 24p per mile. Once you use the flat rate for a vehicle, you must keep using it for as long as that vehicle is in the business, and parking can still be claimed on top.
Bicycles are not on HMRC’s simplified expenses list, which covers cars, goods vehicles and motorcycles only. The 20p a mile figure that appears in many online answers is the approved rate for employees cycling for an employer, not a flat rate for self-employed couriers. A bicycle courier who does not use the trading allowance claims actual costs instead: repairs, tyres, parts, lights and locks bought for the work, and the business share of the bike itself.
How the purchase is treated depends on the accounting method. Cash basis has been the default for sole traders since 6 April 2024. HMRC’s expenses guidance says that under cash basis a car bought for the business goes through capital allowances, unless you use simplified expenses, while other types of vehicle are claimed as allowable expenses. Keep the receipt and a note of how much private use the vehicle also gets.
Courier Evidence Checklist
Use the columns for the vehicle you deliver with. If you switched vehicles during the year, keep a set for each and note the date of the change.
| Evidence | Car | Motorcycle | Bicycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income | Weekly app statements, in-app and cash tips, adjustments | Same as car | Same as car |
| Flat mileage rate | 45p to 5 April 2026, 55p from 6 April 2026, then 25p after 10,000 miles | 24p per business mile | None available |
| Shift and mileage log | Date, start and end points, miles and purpose | Same as car | Optional, but shows business use of the bike |
| Running costs for actual costs | Fuel, insurance, servicing, repairs, vehicle tax, MOT | Fuel, insurance, servicing, tyres, vehicle tax, MOT | Repairs, tyres, parts, lights, locks |
| Buying the vehicle | Purchase or finance papers; cars follow capital allowance rules | Purchase receipt and business share | Purchase receipt and business share |
| Private use | Odometer readings at the start and end of the year | Odometer readings at the start and end of the year | A note of personal riding |
| Delivery kit | Insulated bag, phone mount, business share of phone and data | Same as car | Same as car |
| Insurance | Policy schedule showing the cover held for delivery work | Same as car | Any policy covering the bike or the work |
| Not claimable | Fines, penalty charges, private journeys | Same as car | Same as car |
On the flat rate you do not deduct fuel, insurance or repairs separately, but the mileage log becomes the main evidence for the claim. The rules on what counts as a business mile apply to delivery shifts as well as passenger trips, including the care needed with the journey from home to the first pickup.
A PAYE Job and Making Tax Digital
Keep your P60 and any P11D from your employer with the courier records, because the return needs both. Employment pay goes on the employment pages and delivery income on the self-employment pages.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies from 6 April 2027 if your qualifying income for 2025 to 2026 was over £30,000, and from 6 April 2028 if it is over £20,000 for 2026 to 2027. Qualifying income is gross self-employment and property income, and salary is left out. A part-time courier is usually well below those figures, but rent from a let property counts towards them, so check the MTD start-date rules if you also have property income.
Help With a Courier Tax Return
If you are unsure whether the courier income needs a return, or the platform report does not match your statements, our Uber tax returns service can review the records, choose the expense method and file the return. Ask for a fixed quote that states whether employment income, a second platform and the reconciliation are included.
Official sources checked 22 October 2026. The reconciliation table is a fictional illustration for UK sole-trader couriers. Partnerships, limited companies and couriers engaged as employees follow different rules.
Back to all articles