What the platforms tell HMRC about your earnings
Since 2024 every delivery and ride app has to collect your tax details and report what it paid you to HMRC once a year. There is no minimum for services. Here is what is reported, when, why it will not match your return, and what to do with the copy you are sent.
Correct for the 2026/27 tax year. Last checked 29/09/2026.
For years, delivery income was invisible to HMRC unless a driver declared it. That has changed. The UK adopted the international reporting rules for digital platforms, known in Europe as DAC7, and from 1 January 2024 every platform that pays people for services has to tell HMRC who it paid and how much.
What the platform collects and sends
- Your full name, the address you live at, and your date of birth.
- Your tax identification number, which for a UK individual is your National Insurance number.
- Your VAT number if you have one.
- The bank account the money went to, and the account holder's name if it is not yours.
- The total paid to you in the year, the number of payments, and any fees or commission the platform took.
Deliveroo asks for this once a year by email and in the app. If you do not provide it, the platform can withhold payments or close the account, because it is the platform that faces penalties for not reporting.
When it is reported
Each platform collects figures for a calendar year and reports them to HMRC by 31 January the following year. Earnings from 1 January to 31 December 2025 were reported by 31 January 2026. The platform must also give you a copy of what it reported.
There is no minimum for services. The exemption for people making fewer than 30 sales and under about €2,000 a year applies to selling goods, not to delivering them.
Why it will not match your return
Your Self Assessment covers the tax year, 6 April to 5 April. The report covers January to December. Three months of every report belong to a different tax year from the other nine, so the figures will not agree and are not meant to.
| Months | Platform report for 2025 | Your 2024/25 return | Your 2025/26 return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan to 5 Apr 2025 | Included | Included | Not included |
| 6 Apr to Dec 2025 | Included | Not included | Included |
| Jan to 5 Apr 2026 | Not included | Not included | Included |
The platform also reports what it paid out, which may not match your turnover if the platform took a commission first. On Uber and Bolt, your turnover is the fare before commission. Record both, and keep the statements that show how you got from one to the other.
Substitutes and shared accounts
The report goes out under the account holder's name, including deliveries a substitute made. Deliveroo says so explicitly. If you use a substitute, declare the full amount and claim what you paid them as an expense. Substitutes and account sharing covers the rest.
What HMRC does with it
The data lets HMRC match platform earnings to Self Assessment records and write to people whose figures do not line up, or who have no return at all. It also shares data with the tax authority of any other country you live in. Letters asking drivers to check their income are the most common result.
If you have been delivering without registering, register now. You must register by 5 October after the end of the tax year you started, and income over the £1,000 trading allowance needs declaring. Telling HMRC before it contacts you usually means lower penalties. What happens if you registered late explains the options.
What to do with your copy
- Keep it with that year's records. It is evidence of what HMRC has been told.
- Check the name, address and National Insurance number are right. Ask the platform to correct them if not.
- Compare the total with your own records for the same calendar months. A big gap is worth understanding before HMRC asks.
- Do not copy the total onto your return. Use your tax-year figures.
Sources
Common questions
- Do delivery apps report my earnings to HMRC?
- Yes. Under the reporting rules for digital platforms, which started on 1 January 2024, apps collect your name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number and report what they paid you to HMRC each year.
- Is there a minimum before the platform reports me?
- Not for services. The exemption for fewer than 30 sales and less than about €2,000 applies only to selling goods. Delivery and passenger work is reported from the first pound.
- Will the platform figure match my tax return?
- Almost never. Platforms report by calendar year and your return covers 6 April to 5 April. Your return should be built from what you received in the tax year, and HMRC expects the two to differ.
- I did not register as self-employed. Will HMRC find out?
- Assume it will. The reports are designed to be matched against Self Assessment records. Registering late and telling HMRC before it contacts you usually means lower penalties than waiting to be found.
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.
Track this automatically
The JoltMile app works this out from your own shifts, and keeps the figures ready for Self Assessment. Your first 10 shifts are free.
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