Everlance's Instacart Mileage Deduction Guide: What Every Shopper Should Know Before Tax Season

For Instacart shoppers, taxes can feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to tracking expenses like vehicle use. One of the most overlooked (but most valuable) tax breaks is the mileage deduction. With so many miles driven each week for pickups and deliveries, properly claiming this deduction can make a major difference in what you owe-or what you get back.

That's why Everlance's Instacart mileage deduction guide (https://www.everlance.com/gig-guides/instacart-mileage-deduction) is an essential tool for anyone serious about maximizing income and minimizing stress come tax season.

This article breaks down how mileage deductions work for Instacart shoppers in 2025, what Everlance helps you track, and how to turn your miles into real savings.

Why Mileage Deductions Matter for Instacart Drivers

As a self-employed worker, every mile you drive for business can reduce your taxable income. The IRS offers two methods for deducting vehicle expenses:

tracking actual costs or using the standard mileage rate. Most Instacart drivers choose the standard mileage method because it's simpler, requires less documentation, and often yields a larger deduction.

For 2025, the IRS mileage rate is expected to stay around 65.5 cents per business mile. That means if you drive 20,000 miles a year delivering groceries, you could deduct $13,100 from your income. That deduction lowers your total tax burden and increases your net profit.

But to take advantage of this benefit, you need accurate and consistent mileage logs. This is where instacart mileage deduction guide by Everlance comes in.

What Everlance's Guide Covers

Everlance is a platform built specifically for gig economy workers who need help managing expenses and maximizing deductions. Their Instacart mileage deduction guide walks users through:

What qualifies as deductible mileage
The difference between business and personal trips
How to start automatic GPS tracking for every drive
How to generate IRS-ready mileage reports
How to avoid the most common deduction mistakes

The guide is designed for everyday drivers-not accountants-so it uses plain language, visual examples, and app-based tools to make things easier and faster.

What Miles Can You Deduct as an Instacart Shopper?
You may be driving constantly for deliveries-but not every mile you drive qualifies for a deduction. According to IRS guidelines, only business-related miles can be deducted.

For Instacart shoppers, that includes:

Driving from your home to the store when starting a batch
Traveling from the store to the customer's location
Returning to a high-demand area or store after a delivery
Driving between multiple stores if part of a continuous delivery session

You cannot deduct miles driven for personal errands, trips to lunch, or commutes that aren't directly tied to a delivery. That's why it's so important to classify trips as business or personal right after they happen.

Everlance automates this classification, making it simple to review and tag your drives without manually entering details.

How the Everlance App Tracks and Logs Mileage

Everlance uses GPS to automatically detect when you're driving. It starts logging your trip when you begin moving and ends it when you stop. Each drive is saved in your trip history with the route, total miles, and estimated deduction already calculated.

From there, you can:

Swipe right to mark a trip as "business"
Swipe left to mark it as "personal"
View and edit notes or trip names
Export a complete mileage log as a PDF or spreadsheet

You can do all of this from your phone, with no need for manual entry or paper logs. In the event of an IRS audit, these digital reports are ready to present and fully compliant with tax rules.

How Mileage Deductions Impact Your Tax Return

Claiming the mileage deduction reduces your taxable income. For example, if you make $40,000 from Instacart in a year but deduct $10,000 in mileage, you're only taxed on $30,000.

That can lower:

Your federal income tax
Your self-employment tax
Your state tax (in most states)

Because Instacart doesn't withhold taxes from your payments, tracking deductions is the best way to reduce what you owe in April. Mileage is often the single largest deduction for drivers, especially if you're on the road five or more days per week.

Preparing for Tax Season with Everlance

One of the biggest mistakes gig workers make is waiting until tax time to start thinking about deductions. If you haven't been tracking your mileage, you're forced to guess-or worse, miss the deduction entirely.

By using the Everlance app throughout the year, you'll be able to:
Review your total business miles at a glance

Export your 2025 mileage report with a few taps

Send the report to your accountant or upload it to your tax software

Everlance takes the pressure off tax season by doing the hard part for you in real time. The result? A faster filing process and a smaller tax bill.

What If You Haven't Started Tracking Yet?

If you're reading this mid-year and haven't been logging your miles, you're not alone-but don't wait any longer. Start tracking now. Even if you miss the first few months, capturing the rest of the year's mileage is still a huge win.
The instacart mileage deduction guide by Everlance offers steps on how to get started today, even if you're late to the game. And once you begin, the app makes it easy to stay consistent.

The sooner you begin, the more deductions you'll be able to claim when tax season comes around.

Conclusion

With so many miles driven for deliveries, Instacart shoppers have a real opportunity to lower their tax bills-if they track those miles properly. Everlance's Instacart mileage deduction guide makes the process easier by helping you identify what counts, log your drives automatically, and prepare audit-ready reports without the paperwork.

If you're serious about keeping more of what you earn, mileage tracking isn't optional-it's essential. Everlance gives you the structure and support to do it right, so you can focus on shopping, delivering, and growing your income with confidence.

Everlance
595 Pacific Ave, 4th Fl, San Francisco, CA 94133

The easiest way to manage mileage and expenses, for teams of one to one million.

This release was published on openPR.