I drive for Uber and Bolt (or more than one platform). How does my tax work?
All your platform income is added together and declared as one self-employed business.
You run one driving business, not several
If you drive for Uber, Bolt and FreeNow, you are one self-employed driver with three sources of work. You are not three separate businesses for tax purposes.
On your Self Assessment return, you add your income from every platform together and report it as a single trade. You do the same with your expenses. There is no separate return for each app.
Adding your income together
What counts as your income depends on your agreement with each platform, and the platforms can change their agreements from time to time. Our guide to what counts as your income explains how to work out your figure for each one.
With more than one platform, the only extra step is addition. Work out the income figure for each platform from its weekly statements, then add the figures together. That total is your business turnover for the year.
| Platform | Income for the year |
|---|---|
| Uber | £24,000 |
| Bolt | £18,500 |
| FreeNow | £6,200 |
| Total business turnover | £48,700 |
Keep each platform's weekly statements in case HMRC asks how you reached your figures.
Why this matters more with multiple platforms. The more platforms you drive for, the easier it is to under-declare by accident. A driver who only checks their bank balance, or the summary in each app, can miss income without realising it. Work from the weekly statements.
Expenses cover the whole business, not each app
You don't allocate fuel, insurance or your phone bill between platforms. Your driving business has one set of expenses, regardless of how many apps you take bookings from.
The same applies to your vehicle costs. Whether you choose the mileage method or actual costs, you log all your business mileage across every platform together. You don't run a separate mileage calculation for Uber miles and Bolt miles.
For a full breakdown of what you can and can't claim, see our page on allowable expenses for private hire drivers. For help deciding between the mileage method and actual costs, see mileage vs actual costs.
The £90,000 VAT threshold applies to your combined turnover
The VAT registration threshold is £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. It applies to your combined gross turnover across all platforms. No platform is counted on its own.
A driver earning £55,000 from Uber and £40,000 from Bolt has a combined turnover of £95,000. That driver has crossed the threshold and needs to register for VAT, even though neither platform alone would have triggered it.
Keep a running total of your combined gross turnover as you approach £90,000. Once you cross the threshold in a rolling 12-month period, you must register. For the full picture, see our VAT registration page.
The MTD threshold also applies to your combined income
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) became a legal requirement from 6 April 2026 for anyone with qualifying income over £50,000. Qualifying income is your total income from self-employment and property, before expenses.
If you drive for more than one platform, your qualifying income includes all of them. A driver who earned £28,000 from Uber and £24,000 from Bolt has qualifying income of £52,000, which is over the £50,000 threshold.
Whether and when you must join is decided by the qualifying income on your Self Assessment return for an earlier year:
| Qualifying income on your return for | Over | Join MTD from |
|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | £50,000 | 6 April 2026 |
| 2025/26 | £30,000 | 6 April 2027 |
| 2026/27 | £20,000 | 6 April 2028 |
HMRC checks your return and writes to you. If you do not hear from HMRC, it is still your responsibility to check.
For the full detail on what MTD requires and the quarterly deadlines, see our Making Tax Digital page.
Keeping records across platforms
The most reliable way to establish your income is to work it out from your weekly statements, cut to the UK tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April. The annual or monthly summaries in each app are not reliable enough to use on their own. Keep your weekly statements from every platform together with your other business records.
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1Keep a running total from your weekly statements
Update this as you go, rather than waiting until the year end to add everything up.
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2Add the figures together across platforms
This is your total business turnover, before any expenses.
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3Check the running total against the £90,000 VAT threshold
VAT looks at any 12 months in a row, so check it as you go.
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4Log mileage and expenses against the whole business
Not platform by platform. One mileage log, one set of expense records.
Common questions
No. You file one Self Assessment return covering your whole driving business. All platform income is added together and declared as a single trade, with one set of expenses.
Yes. Each platform reports to HMRC separately, once a year. The report shows what the platform paid you and any fees it says it took. HMRC can put the reports together and check them against your tax return.
No. The £90,000 VAT threshold applies to your combined gross turnover from all platforms. If your platforms together exceed £90,000 in a rolling 12-month period, you need to register, even if no single platform crosses the line on its own.
No. You keep one mileage log covering all your business driving, whichever app the booking came through. The same applies to fuel, insurance and your other vehicle costs.
Yes. Your qualifying income includes every platform, so two part-time apps can add up to more than the threshold. Your start date is decided from your tax return, so add up all your platforms when you check.
This page is general guidance, not advice for your own circumstances. It was correct as at the date shown at the top, and tax rules and rates change over time. Please take advice on your own position before acting on anything here.
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