Amazon Flex Taxes in 2026: The Block Driver's Guide

You are a contractor, and your pay is already net

Amazon Flex classifies drivers as independent contractors, so nothing is withheld and the income and Social Security/Medicare tax a W-2 employer would handle is now yours to set aside. The upside is business deductions, which for a driver are substantial. One thing that makes Flex simpler than rideshare: the block rate you see and accept is the amount you earn, with tips on top and no commission skimmed off. So you report your block pay plus tips as gross income on Schedule C, with no platform fee to back out, and you are taxed on the profit after your deductions.

The form is a 1099-NEC, not a 1099-K

This is the Flex-specific wrinkle. Rideshare and most delivery apps pay through third-party processors and report on a 1099-K, whose gross can include fees and exceed your deposits. Amazon pays Flex drivers first-party through Amazon Payments, so it issues a Form 1099-NEC instead. For payments made on or after January 1, 2026, the reporting threshold rises from $600 to $2,000 (per Rev. Proc. 2025-32); for the 2025 tax year the old $600 threshold still applied. The practical effect is welcome: the Box 1 figure maps cleanly to what you were paid, with no inflated gross to reconcile. As always, all of your income is taxable whether or not a form arrives, so a low-volume driver who gets no 1099 still reports every dollar using the Flex app’s earnings summary.

Mileage: the deduction that does the heavy lifting

For nearly every Flex driver, vehicle mileage is the biggest deduction on the return. The 2026 IRS standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per business mile (per Notice 2026-10), and it bundles gas, maintenance, repairs, insurance, and depreciation into one figure. A driver logging 10,000 business miles deducts $7,250 before any other expense.

The Flex-specific question is which miles count. Once your block starts, the drive from the delivery station to your first stop, between stops, and along the route the deliveries require is business mileage. The drive from home to the station before the block, and back home after, is commuting, which is never deductible. That makes the station your practical starting line. The deduction only holds up if your records do, so keep a contemporaneous log with miles, date, and purpose. The full rules are in how to keep a mileage log the IRS will accept.

The other deductions Flex drivers forget

• Phone and phone plan (business-use share). The Flex app runs on your phone, so the portion of your phone costs used for driving work is deductible.
• Tolls and parking during a block. These sit outside the mileage rate and deduct on top of it. Parking tickets do not; fines are never deductible.
• Gear. Phone mounts, chargers, hand trucks, insulated bags for chilled grocery blocks, and similar supplies used for work.

What you cannot do is deduct gas, oil changes, or insurance on top of the standard mileage rate; those are already inside the 72.5 cents. The actual-expense method is the alternative if you would rather deduct real vehicle costs by business-use percentage, with its own first-year election rule.

Self-employment tax and quarterlies

Once Schedule C produces your profit, two federal taxes apply. The first is self-employment tax: 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare) on 92.35% of net earnings, which kicks in at $400 of net self-employment income. Half of it is deductible from your income, and the Social Security portion stops at the wage base ($184,500 in 2026). The second is ordinary income tax at your bracket, plus state income tax in most states. Because nothing is withheld, the IRS expects quarterly estimated payments if you will owe $1,000 or more for the year, due April 15, June 15, and September 15, 2026, then January 15, 2027. The mechanics and the safe harbor are in our quarterly tax guide, and you can size each set-aside with the set-aside calculator. Drive for other apps too? The DoorDash and Uber guide covers combining platforms on one Schedule C.

This guide is general information, not personalized tax advice. Unusual situations, like driving across state lines or switching vehicle methods, usually warrant a CPA. The numbers here are sourced from IRS publications and current at 2026-06-18; rates and thresholds change.