Deadhead Miles: What They Are and Why They Count

Deadhead miles are business miles you drove without a passenger, paying customer, or revenue at the other end. Driving from a drop-off back to your usual zone, repositioning to a busier area, returning to your shop after a job. They are deductible.

Where the Term Comes From

The term comes from trucking. A deadhead trip is a trucker driving an empty trailer back to a yard or to the next pickup. The word transferred to ride-hailing, delivery, and trades work to describe any business drive that does not directly generate revenue at the destination.

Examples

• Rideshare driver. Dropping a passenger off in a quiet suburb and driving back to a busier area to take more trips.
• Delivery driver. Driving from the last delivery of a shift back to where you live or to the restaurant district to start the next shift.
• Plumber, electrician, contractor. Driving from one job site to the next, or from a job back to the shop to grab parts.
• Real estate agent. Driving from a showing to the office to grab paperwork before another showing.
• Sales rep. Driving between unscheduled prospect drop-ins on the same day.

Why They Are Deductible

The IRS test for a business mile is whether the drive was for a business purpose. Repositioning to where the next customer is, or returning to a base of operations after a paid job, both serve a business purpose. The fact that no money changed hands at the other end does not disqualify the mile.

The exception is your normal commute. The first drive from home to your first job of the day, and the last drive from your last job to home, generally count as commuting and are not deductible. See the business vs commuting guide.

Why Gig Drivers Miss Deadhead Miles

The platform tax summaries that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart send out at year-end count only the miles when a passenger or order was in the vehicle. That is "period 3" mileage in IRS terms. The IRS lets you deduct period 1 (logged in and waiting for a request), period 2 (en route to pick up), and period 3 (passenger or order in the vehicle).

For most full-time rideshare drivers, the platform summary undercounts deductible miles by 30 to 50 percent. A driver showing 22,000 miles on the Uber summary may actually have 32,000 deductible miles once deadhead and waiting time are counted.

How to Track Deadhead Miles

Auto-tracking apps catch deadhead miles by default because they record every drive, not only the ones tied to a paid trip. Manual logging usually misses them, because the only thing that pings your attention to log a trip is a passenger or delivery alert.

If you use a paper or spreadsheet log, build the habit of logging the start and end of each shift, then logging every position change in between, even if no money was earned at the destination. Otherwise the deadhead miles disappear.

Auto-track every drive, including the deadhead miles. Start free with TruMile →