How to Become UBER Driver in Australia
This article is shared with permission of UBER Driver. (Thanks to our UBER clients 🙂
A day before yesterday, I received an email from UBER regarding their top drivers that are earning more than $1300 a week and I was like wow, this is great! I live in Australia where an average weekly income is around $900 to a $1000. So I was surprised at how people driving a car that doesn’t even cost $10,000 can make $1500 a week. At first, I thought I should buy a car, start driving UBER and leave my ordinary job. I make around $900 a week to earn my living, but I never make sudden decisions and always do my research before doing anything. What I found upon further research made me even more astonished than I was when I heard about the $1500 earnings per week.
Soon, I became sick of my ordinary job and went straight to UBER and signed up. Signing up and becoming a driver is easy with UBER, all you have to do is provide them with a copy of your license and police check to get registered. You don’t even need to own a car and you can update all other information before getting on the roads. I was also asked to purchase car insurance and road side assistance, which I agreed to.
To become driver an UBER in Melbourne, Victoria, all you need is:
A copy of your driver’s license (I believe it should be at least 1 year old)
Police check
A car (under your name or anyone’s name who can authorize you to become a driver)
Insurance
Mobile (iPhone or Android to use UBER app)
ABN Number with gst registration
To become an UBER driver in Perth WA you will need
- A Police Check
- T Extention (also called F – Extention)
- A Car over 9 years old
- Insurance 3rd partly at least
- Mobile Phone with UBER App
- Working rights in Australia
- ABN number with GST registration
I don’t remember if I provided any additional documents.
After providing the information, I finally become an UBER driver! I was really happy as driving is the only thing I don’t hate doing for work and had once left an office job because I was very depressed with the same routine. Driving an UBER is easier than signing up, all you have to do is open the UBER app, log in with your account and start making dollars. During my first trip, I was a bit scared and anxious, as I had never used satellite navigation and I wasn’t familiar with all of the roads, but it wasn’t as scary as I had anticipated. The first customer I picked up was friendly and talkative. I picked him up from Burke St and dropped him off at South Yarra station. I finally completed my first trip and couldn’t believe it could be that easy to make money in Australia and have fun while I earn.
Check your UBER income on this page
Today marks fourth months of me driving an UBER and I consider myself as an experienced driver, or at least not new to the field. I found many complicated issues with UBER that most people are not aware of. First of all, when you drive UBER, you are working as a contractor and not as an employee, which means that you are responsible for your own tax and gst on anything you earn. GST is a word I had never heard of, so I visited an accountant who advised that I must pay 10% GST on my income after deducting all my expenses. He also said that I have to pay GST on UBER commissions as well, which was the worst part. Besides paying UBER fees, fuel, cleaning, insurance, maintenance, entertainment of customers now I also have to pay 10% GST on top. This is ridiculous and I am taking $840 home, which is actually less than what I was earning at my ordinary job. There is another thing that UBER drivers should be very careful with. I found that UBER always ask their customers to rate their drivers out of 5 and most customers give around a 4.8 rating. There any many drunks you will come across as well, so you have to be very careful with customer service. If your rating gets below 4.6, you will be terminated from UBER and can no longer drive for them.
Here are some advantages of driving UBER in Australia
You are your OWN boss.
There is no complex requirement to become an UBER driver. All you need is a car and a license. See above (a1)
Good Money if you drive on weekends, especially on Saturdays
Easy mobile app embed with Google map, makes it easier for you to navigate.
Great for International students, to work anytime that suits them.
Have fun while you earn
Of course, in this world, there is never a positive without a negative
Disadvantage as an UBER driver
- UBER fee (20% of your income will go to UBER. They are proving you leads, so I personally think this is fair)
Note: 25% for new drivers. (probaly one of the reason UBER don’t care about old registered drivers is the fact that they can easily gets heaps of uber drivers with less commission you have to pay)
- Australian Tax Office has announced that from 1st August 2015, all UBER drivers are required to register and pay GST quarterly.
- Car Value (if you buy a car for $10000, by next year it may reduce to $7000 or ever less because of the KMs you travel)
- Tax Issue (besides GST, UBER drivers also have to pay TAX and GST on their UBER Income)
- Rating (if your rating goes below 4.7, you will be out of business.)
Customers (besides 90% good customers, sometimes you can come across some idiots who may damage your car or abuse you for no reason)
Now with knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages, it is up to you to decide if you should start driving UBER part-time or make a full living out of it. It is your choice to drive UBER, however, it is your obligation to share knowledge. Always remember sharing is caring 🙂
Here are some tax and and guidelines (provided by ALITAX.com.au)
How To Use TAX Return Calculator
Note UBER drivers are treated as Independent Contractors for Tax and GST purposes in which they are liable for their own tax and gst affairs. As of August 2015 all UBER drivers must register and pay gst each quarters similar to taxi drivers.
UBER NET Income Calculator
UBER GST Calculator
BAS, GST online lodgement by ALITAX.
Please note: This information is published only for general purpose and ALITAX is not responsible for any errors, ommision that may have caused to the viewers from this article. (Thanks to our UBER customers to share a view on their job)
