Do I need to register for GST?
The short answer
IRD says you must register if you have earned, or will earn, more than $60,000 in any 12 months from all your taxable activities, counting gross fares. The GST page tracks the fares you log here over the last 12 months, and warns you as you get close or if your current pace would pass it.
If your fares over the next 12 months would pass $60,000 at your current rate, the page says On pace for the GST threshold: IRD asks you to register when you expect to pass it, not only once you have.
If a month comes from a statement that didn’t show ride fares, and you logged no shifts that month to estimate from, it isn’t counted. The page names that month and says Incomplete instead of Safe.
WorthMile only counts what you record in it. Sales from any other business you run (not wages from a job) count toward the test too.
Once you’re registered
- Tell each app you drive for. The app charges the GST on your rides, so you don’t add GST to your fares.
- In your GST return, rides through those apps are zero-rated.
- You can claim GST back on your business costs.
- Unregistered drivers get the GST flat-rate credit from the apps. If you’re registered and still receive it, you pay it back in your GST return.
This is what the app tracks, not tax advice. Check with IRD or your accountant before you register.
IRD: ride-sharing and GST (opens outside WorthMile) · IRD: GST for drivers (opens outside WorthMile)