Do I have to log every single shift?
For your tax return you need a complete record of your income, so yes. For the hourly rate to mean anything you also need the quiet shifts, not just the good ones.
Last checked 12/09/2026.
For your tax return, yes: HMRC expects a complete record of your business income, and a partial one is not a record.
There is a second reason that has nothing to do with tax. Your hourly rate is only worth reading if it covers the bad shifts as well as the good ones. Log the three good Fridays and skip the wet Tuesday and JoltMile will tell you that delivery driving pays better than it does, which is a comfortable thing to be told and a useless one.
What you do not need is to log each drop. One shift is one period of work - a Flex block, an evening on Deliveroo, a parcel round. Splitting a round into forty entries buys nothing.
If a shift is half entered when you have to stop, leave it: JoltMile saves it as a draft against your account, and drafts are deliberately left out of every figure until you finish them.
Related
Logging a shift
What each step of the shift wizard asks for, why, and what happens to it afterwards.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
What records do I actually need to keep?
Every payment in, every allowable cost out, and a mileage log with dates and journeys. Enough that somebody else could rebuild your return from it.
HMRC & taxUpdated 19/08/2026
How JoltMile calculates your true hourly rate
The difference between gross, business and true £/hr, and exactly what each one subtracts.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Riding for Deliveroo: the full guide
How Deliveroo works for a rider: what you need to join, how each fee is worked out, the pay floor agreed with the GMB union, when the money arrives, the insurance Deliveroo gives you for free, and the parts that are left to you.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Delivering for Uber Eats: the full guide
How Uber Eats works for a courier: signing up, how each delivery is paid, Quests and batched orders, the weekly pay cycle and the two ways to cash out early, the free Allianz cover, Uber Eats Pro, and the tax side.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Delivering for Just Eat: the full guide
Just Eat works differently from the other food apps. You set your availability each week and are scheduled into delivery runs, each order pays Transit Pay, and your acceptance rate decides how quickly offers reach you. Here is how all of it fits together.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026