At the end of the financial year, you complete and lodge your personal income tax return. The income tax return reports:

• your total assessable income
• and your total allowable deductions, being the expenses you paid to earn your total assessable income.

You do not record any GST in your tax return as this is accounted for when you lodge your business activity statements (BAS) during the year. So, you report your ride-sourcing income which includes your full passenger fares (without GST) and any other payments or bonuses the platforms paid you. You also report all the ride-sourcing expenses you paid including the platform fees and charges (without GST).

Whatever is left over when you subtract your expenses from your income is the amount you pay tax on, otherwise known as your taxable income.

Your taxable income, together with any tax you’ve paid throughout the year, is used to calculate your tax obligation. Your tax obligation is either a tax refund or tax bill.