Food delivery rider expenses: what self-employed couriers can claim

Delivering food on a bike, e-bike, scooter or car through apps such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Just Eat is, for many riders, self-employed work. If you are self-employed, nobody takes tax off your earnings before they reach you. You report them to HMRC yourself and pay tax on your profit, so every genuine cost you can prove reduces your bill.

This guide covers the general HMRC rules for self-employed couriers. Each platform has its own terms, fee structures and statements, and they change, so this article does not try to describe them. Check your own rider agreement for how you are classed and paid.

Do you need to tell HMRC?

HMRC gives every individual a £1,000 trading allowance. Its guidance on tax-free allowances explains that if your gross trading income is £1,000 or less in a tax year you may not need to tell HMRC, although there are some circumstances where you still must.

Above that, you will normally need to register for Self Assessment as self-employed. The deadline is 5 October after the end of the tax year you started in. For the year that ran from 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026, that was 5 October 2026. Telling HMRC late can mean a penalty, so if you have missed it, register now.

Note the word gross. The £1,000 test is on what you earned before costs, not on your profit.

Trading allowance or real expenses?

If your earnings are over £1,000, you can choose between:

• deducting the £1,000 trading allowance from your income, or
• deducting your actual allowable expenses

You cannot do both, and HMRC's expenses guidance adds that you cannot claim capital allowances, for example on a bike or scooter, if you use the trading allowance. If you work regularly, your real costs usually beat £1,000 quickly, but only if you can prove them.

What you can claim

HMRC's rule is that costs must be for the business. Anything used privately as well has to be split, and only the business share claimed.

Your vehicle

How you claim depends on what you ride or drive.

Cars, vans and motorcycles (including scooters and mopeds): you can use HMRC's simplified expenses flat rates instead of real costs. For 2026 to 2027 the rates are 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van and 25p after that, and 24p a mile for a motorcycle. Parking can be claimed on top. Alternatively you can claim actual running costs, such as fuel, insurance, repairs and servicing, breakdown cover and vehicle tax, plus capital allowances on the vehicle itself. Once you use flat rates for a vehicle, you must stick with them for that vehicle. Our guide to mileage versus actual costs explains the trade-off.

Bicycles and e-bikes: the simplified flat rates only cover cars, goods vehicles and motorcycles, so for a bicycle you claim actual costs. HMRC lists bicycles among the business vehicles you can claim capital allowances on, and repairs, servicing, tyres, chains and similar running costs are allowable expenses. Charging an e-bike at home is harder to separate from household electricity, so take advice if it is a significant cost.

Whatever you ride, keep a log of business miles, whether that is screenshots of trip summaries from the app or a mileage tracker. Without it you cannot justify the business share or a mileage claim.

Insurance

Insurance for your vehicle, including the cover you need for delivery work, is an allowable vehicle cost under actual costs. If you use flat mileage rates for a car, van or motorcycle, insurance is already included in the rate.

Phone and data

Your phone is the tool that runs the job. HMRC allows the business proportion of phone, mobile and internet bills. If you also use the phone personally, which almost everyone does, work out a sensible split and note how you arrived at it, for example from data use or hours on shift.

Equipment

Thermal delivery bags, phone mounts, bike locks, lights and power banks bought for the work are typical business equipment. Keep the receipts.

Clothing

This is where many riders over-claim. HMRC allows uniforms, specialist protective clothing and clothing that protects your everyday clothes while you work. It does not allow everyday clothing, even if you only wear it for work. A branded item you must wear is generally fine. A waterproof jacket you also wear at the weekend is likely to be everyday clothing. Ask an accountant about borderline kit such as helmets and high-visibility gear.

Things you cannot claim

• Food and drink on shift. HMRC only allows meals on overnight business trips.
• Parking tickets and fines. HMRC specifically excludes fines and penalty charges.
• Personal use of your bike, scooter, car or phone.

Records to keep

HMRC expects you to keep records of all income and expenses, and to keep them for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline for the year, as covered in how long to keep receipts. For a rider that means:

• income: the statements or earnings summaries each platform provides, downloaded regularly in case you lose access to your account
• receipts: for repairs, parts, equipment, insurance and phone bills
• mileage: a log or trip history for each vehicle
• bank statements: showing platform payments arriving and costs going out

Fuel and parts receipts are often small thermal-paper slips that fade. Photograph them when you get them. Receipts Keeper reads the supplier, date, total and VAT from each receipt and keeps the image, and on the Business plan you can forward receipts from Telegram between drops and export a CSV at year end.

If your earnings grow

If your self-employed income, together with any property income, goes over the Making Tax Digital thresholds (£50,000 from April 2026, £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028, based on gross income), you will need to keep digital records and send quarterly updates. See our Making Tax Digital guide.

Sources

• Tax-free allowances on property and trading income, GOV.UK
• Register for Self Assessment if you're self-employed, GOV.UK
• Expenses if you're self-employed, GOV.UK
• Simplified expenses: vehicles, GOV.UK

This article is general information, not tax advice. Your employment status and costs are personal to you, so check with HMRC or an accountant.