How Amazon Flex pay works
Amazon Flex pays a fixed price for a block of time, quoted before you accept it. The figure is gross, it says nothing about the miles the route will run, and everything after that, fuel, insurance, wear and tax, comes out of it.
Correct for the 2026/27 tax year. Last checked 12/09/2026.
Flex is unusual among the delivery apps because the price is fixed and known before you commit. That removes one uncertainty and leaves a bigger one: how far the route runs.
How a block is priced
A block is a slot of time from a named delivery station, usually between two and five hours, offered at a fixed price. You see the price and the length before accepting. What you do not see is the route, the number of stops or the distance.
That is the whole risk of the model. Two four-hour blocks at the same price, one a dense urban route and one a rural round, are completely different jobs.
What the rate leaves out
A worked comparison of two blocks at the same quoted price. These are illustrative figures for one driver, not published rates.
| Urban block | Rural block | |
|---|---|---|
| Quoted price | £72.00 | £72.00 |
| Length | 4 hours | 4 hours |
| Route miles | 31 | 96 |
| Running cost at 36p a mile | £11.16 | £34.56 |
| Left before tax | £60.84 | £37.44 |
| Per hour before tax | £15.21 | £9.36 |
Same headline rate, and one of them pays 62% more. That is why the useful question about a block is not what it pays but what it pays per mile.
What you owe on it
The quoted price is turnover in full. Against it you deduct your business mileage at 55p a mile up to the 10,000-mile threshold, plus anything else genuinely incurred for the work, and you pay income tax and Class 4 National Insurance on what is left.
On the urban block above, 31 business miles is a deduction of £17.05, so the taxable profit from that block is £54.95 rather than £72.00. That is the shape of it: the mileage deduction is usually larger than the actual fuel cost, which is why a driver claiming mileage pays less tax than the headline suggests.
Getting your figures out
Flex shows earnings in the app and provides statements. Download them monthly rather than at the year end, because an account you cannot open is an account whose history you cannot retrieve. Getting your earnings statements out of each app has the detail.
What to track from day one
- The block price, and whether it was paid in full.
- The odometer at the start and end of the block, which gives you the route miles without guessing.
- The station, so you learn which ones run long.
- Whether the run to the station is business or commuting for you. See business miles, commuting and the depot run.
Sources
Common questions
- Is the Amazon Flex block rate what I take home?
- No. It is gross turnover. Fuel, a share of your insurance, wear on the vehicle and the tax on the profit all come out of it, and on a long rural route the miles alone can take a quarter of it.
- Do I get paid if the block overruns?
- It depends on the block type and on why it overran. Some are paid to completion and some are not. Check which you have accepted rather than assuming, because an unpaid overrun turns a good rate per hour into a poor one.
- Can I claim mileage on Amazon Flex?
- Yes. Business miles are claimable at 55p for the first 10,000 in a tax year, then 25p. The route miles are plainly business. The run to the station and back is the arguable part.
- Does Amazon tell HMRC what I earned?
- Digital platforms report earnings data to HMRC under the reporting rules, so assume the figure is known. Your job is to declare it correctly, not to hope it is not seen.
- Is Flex self-employed?
- Yes. You are a self-employed contractor, responsible for your own registration, records, insurance and tax. Nothing is deducted before you are paid.
About the author
Issac Davies, Founder of JoltMile
Issac Davies drives for gig apps in the UK and built JoltMile to show drivers what a shift actually pays once fuel, insurance and tax come off. Every guide here is checked against HMRC and gov.uk guidance, and is information rather than tax advice.
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Shift log · True hourly rate · Estimated tax: the JoltMile app works this out from your own shifts. Your first 10 shifts are free.
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