DoorDash’s own guide opens with the sentence that matters: as an independent contractor, you are responsible for keeping track of your earnings and accurately reporting them in tax filings. Nothing is withheld, no form arrives automatically in the mail by default, and the platform tells you plainly that it cannot give tax advice.
What follows is what can be established from DoorDash’s published guide and the IRS documents that govern the numbers, with the tax year named at every step because two thresholds and one mileage rate changed recently.
Which Tax Year This Page Is About
This page is written for tax year 2026: payments you receive from DoorDash between January 1 and December 31, 2026, reported to you in January 2027, and filed on your 2026 return by April 15, 2027.
Two things differ if you are settling an earlier year. The federal threshold for the 1099-NEC was $600 for payments made in 2025, because the increase to $2,000 applies to tax years beginning after 2025, and the IRS instructions say not to use their current revision for prior years. And the mileage rate was a flat 70 cents per mile for the whole of 2025, where 2026 has two rates.
The Form DoorDash Sends
One form, and DoorDash names it: if you earned $600 or more between January 1 and December 31 on the DoorDash platform, you will receive a 1099-NEC through the Dasher app. Their FAQ goes further and says the 1099-NEC is the only tax form eligible Dashers receive, for those at that earnings level.
That $600 figure is DoorDash’s own stated bar, and it is worth noticing what it does not say. The federal threshold for information returns on payments made in 2026 is $2,000, under the increase the IRS records in the instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC for tax years beginning after 2025. A platform can set a lower bar for issuing forms than the federal minimum requires, and DoorDash’s guide still describes $600. What is fixed either way is the tax: the form is a reporting document, and the income is reportable whether or not one arrives.
Two details from the same guide belong with the form. Tips are reported separately this year: DoorDash states that, because of the No Tax on Tips changes, US Dashers’ tip income will be reported separately from the 1099, with the information sent by email by January 31. And if you opt out of electronic delivery, the mailed copy is postmarked by January 31, which is the same date the electronic copy appears in the app.
What the Form Cannot Tell You
Three limits, all stated by DoorDash rather than inferred:
- No category breakdown. DoorDash states it does not provide a breakdown of total earnings between base pay, tips, pay boosts and milestones, which means the split between them is your record to keep, and this year the tips sit outside the 1099 entirely.
- The subtotal follows the deposit date, not the dash date. DoorDash’s guide says it calculates the subtotal of earnings based on the date the earnings were deposited. A dash completed on December 30 and paid on January 2 lands in the next year, which is the boundary that moves income between returns.
- Nothing is withheld. The guide says so directly, which is why the quarterly payment system exists and why a first year of dashing can end with a balance due rather than a refund.
What You Owe on the Income
Self-employment tax and income tax, calculated differently. The self-employment side is fixed by the IRS: the rate consists of 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare, applied to 92.35% of net earnings, where net earnings are gross income from the business minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. The $400 threshold belongs here, and the IRS states it as usually owing self-employment tax if net earnings were $400 or more.
So on $30,000 of net DoorDash earnings, the self-employment tax is 92.35% of $30,000, which is $27,705, times 15.3%, which is $4,238.87 before rounding, or about $4,239, before any income tax. The mileage deduction below is what reduces the $30,000 in the first place.
Mileage, and the Rate That Changes on July 1
The IRS standard mileage rate for business use in 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile from January 1 to June 30, and 76 cents per mile from July 1 to December 31. Two rates in one year means two multiplications for a full year of driving.
A Dasher who drives 12,000 business miles spread evenly across the year, 6,000 miles in each half, deducts 6,000 times 72.5 cents plus 6,000 times 76 cents, which is $4,350 plus $4,560, for $8,910. Against the $30,000 above, that deduction cuts the income the self-employment tax is calculated on by close to a third.
DoorDash’s guide says it will send mileage information during tax season only to Dashers who did not use a tracker, which makes the platform’s own figure a starting point rather than a substitute for your records: what the standard rate requires is the business miles driven, and the app’s record of active time is not the same thing as a mileage log.
The Other Lines Dashers Use
Mileage is the largest deduction and not the only one. On Schedule C, the form the self-employed use, the labels that fit delivery work are the ones printed on it: line 9 for car and truck expenses, line 22 for supplies, line 18 for office expense, and line 27b, which takes whatever else is listed and totalled in Part V.
The test for anything going on those lines is the one the IRS uses in defining net earnings: an expense must be ordinary and necessary to the business. A phone used for deliveries, insulated bags, a mount, a delivery-specific insurance rider: each has to clear that bar and be kept separate from personal use, which is the part that turns a receipt into a deduction.
Quarterly Payments
The IRS describes the mechanism on its self-employed pages: estimated tax is the method used to pay Social Security, Medicare and income taxes when you do not have an employer withholding them, and Form 1040-ES is the form used to work out the amounts.
The date to watch is the one DoorDash prints in its own timeline: April 15 is the IRS deadline to file individual returns, and the quarterly schedule runs from there. A Dasher who starts mid-year owes nothing in the first quarter and still has to estimate the next one, which is why the worksheet asks for last year’s return rather than this year’s figures.
DoorDash’s Own Checklist
The guide ends with a short list of things that are yours to do, and each has a reason attached:
- Confirm your address by December 31 in the Dasher app, under Profile and Edit profile details on iOS, or Account Details on Android. The form goes to the address on file, and a state change affects which state tax authority receives it.
- Download the form from the app at Earnings, then View payout details, then Tax documents, selecting the year from the dropdown. The earliest year available is 2024.
- Ask support for name or TIN corrections after January 31, and note the guide’s own caveat that address changes within the same state are not adjusted on tax forms, so a move inside a state does not require one.
- Keep your own earnings record. Because the platform does not break earnings into categories and reports tips separately, the app’s total is not a complete picture of the income you are reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I get a 1099 from DoorDash if I made less than $600?
DoorDash’s own guide says its eligible Dashers receive the form at $600 or more for the calendar year, and adds that Dashers who earn less will not receive one. That is DoorDash’s stated bar, and it sits below the federal threshold for tax years beginning after 2025, which the IRS raised to $2,000. Whether a form arrives is a reporting question, not a tax question: the income is taxable either way, and the IRS rule is that you report all income you receive.
Is the threshold $600 or $2,000 this year?
Both numbers are live in 2026 and they mean different things. The federal threshold for information returns on payments made in 2026 is $2,000, under the increase the IRS records for tax years beginning after 2025. DoorDash’s published guide still states $600, and a platform may set its own bar for issuing forms. If you are settling up a 2025 return, the federal threshold was $600 for that year, and the current instructions say not to use them for prior years.
Why is my DoorDash tip income reported separately?
Because of the No Tax on Tips changes. DoorDash’s guide states that, for Dashers in the US, tip income will be reported separately from the 1099, and that the information arrives by email from DoorDash by January 31. The practical consequence is that your total income figure is in two places, so reconciling your records means adding both rather than reading one form.
What mileage rate do I use for 2026?
Two rates, split at the middle of the year. The IRS standard mileage rate for business use is 72.5 cents per mile from January 1 to June 30, 2026, and 76 cents per mile from July 1 to December 31, 2026. A full year of driving therefore needs two multiplications rather than one. The rates are published on the IRS standard mileage page, each half with its own announcement number.
Which is better, the mileage rate or actual expenses?
For a delivery vehicle, the standard rate is usually the simpler claim because it bundles fuel, maintenance, insurance and depreciation into one number per mile. Actual expenses mean tracking all of that and keeping receipts. The choice is a real one and the Schedule C instructions cover where each goes: the standard rate lands on line 9, Car and truck expenses.
When is the DoorDash 1099 available?
By January 31, in the Dasher app, under Earnings, then View payout details, then Tax documents. DoorDash’s guide says the earliest year you can select is 2024, that opting out of electronic delivery means a mailed copy postmarked by January 31, and that the same information goes to the IRS and to relevant state tax authorities.
Sources
Platform practice was read from DoorDash’s own guide, and every rate and threshold from the IRS document that states it, on September 28, 2026.
- DoorDash, Dasher guide to taxes, for the $600 earnings level and the 1099-NEC, the statement that it is the only form eligible Dashers receive, the separate reporting of tips under the No Tax on Tips changes, the deposit-date basis for the subtotal, the absence of withholding and of a category breakdown, the in-app path to the form, the December 31 address step, the January 31 availability date and the April 15 filing date
- DoorDash, track mileage, for the statement that Dashers are independent contractors and that DoorDash sends mileage information during tax season only to those who did not track it
- IRS, standard mileage rates, for 72.5 cents per mile from January 1 to June 30, 2026 (IR-2025-128) and 76 cents per mile from July 1 to December 31, 2026 (IR-2026-29)
- IRS, self-employment tax topic, for the 12.4% and 2.9% split, the 92.35% factor, the $400 threshold and the definition of net earnings as gross income less ordinary and necessary business expenses
- Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (12/2026), for the $2,000 federal threshold on payments made in 2026, the scope stated as tax years beginning after 2025, and the instruction not to use the current revision for prior years
- IRS, self-employed individuals tax center, for the estimated tax mechanism and Form 1040-ES
For the two forms that can arrive for gig income and how they divide, see 1099-NEC vs 1099-K. For the form the income lands on, see Schedule C explained.
