If you drove for Uber, delivered for DoorDash, or sold crafts on Etsy this year, there's a decent chance you overpaid the IRS.
Not because you made a mistake, but because the tax system quietly assumes you're a full-time employee.
Nobody sends a gig worker a W-2 with taxes already withheld.
That means every dollar you owe was calculated without a single deduction baked in — and most people leave money on the table.
When you're a regular employee, your boss withholds Social Security and Medicare taxes, and covers half of them.
When you're a gig worker, you're both the boss and the employee.
You owe the full 15.3% self-employment tax on your net profit, plus income tax on top.
That number shocks people in April, but the flip side is that virtually everything you spend to earn that money becomes deductible — and few workers claim it.
For 2025, the IRS standard mileage rate is 70 cents per mile for business driving.
If you put 12,000 gig miles on your car, that's $8,400 in deductions.
Most drivers track nothing and claim nothing, then wonder why their tax bill feels brutal.
Apps like Stride, Everlance, and Gridwise log miles automatically and cost little or nothing.
Then there's the home office, which trips people up.
If you use a corner of your apartment exclusively for admin work — scheduling, invoicing, ordering supplies — you can often deduct a portion of rent or mortgage interest, utilities, and internet using the simplified method: $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet.
That's up to $1,500 without saving a single receipt.
Phone bills, phone mounts, insulated delivery bags, car chargers, parking fees, tolls, and even the platform's service fees all count.
Set aside 25 to 30% of every payout in a separate savings account and you'll stop dreading tax season entirely.
There's also help most people don't know exists.
Free File through the IRS works if your income is under $84,000, and many gig workers qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Saver's Credit without realizing it.
If your income swung wildly during the year, a mid-year check with a CPA who handles 1099 workers can catch an estimated-payment problem before penalties stack up.
One more thing worth flagging: if a platform sent you a 1099-K for the first time, don't panic.
That form reports gross payments, not profit.
You subtract fees, refunds, and expenses before you're taxed.
Plenty of people overpay simply because they report the gross number and stop there.
Gig work hands you deductions that employees never get, but only if you actually claim them.
Final Thoughts
Spend one afternoon logging your miles and expenses, and you may find the refund you're owed was there all along.