Sharing Economy Reporting Regime 2025-26: How Uber, Airbnb & Hipages Now Report Your Income to the ATO

General information only. This is not tax or financial advice. Consult a registered tax agent for advice specific to your situation.

If you drove for Uber, rented out a spare room on Airbnb, dropped off Menulog orders, or picked up jobs on Hipages or Airtasker in 2025-26, your income is now reported directly to the ATO by the platform itself. Twice a year. Before you lodge your tax return.

This isn’t a future change. It’s been live for short-stay accommodation and ride-sourcing since 1 July 2023, and the second wave — every other electronic distribution platform — went live on 1 July 2024. By the time you sit down to lodge your 2025-26 return, the ATO will already know what each platform paid you to the dollar.

Most people who got caught out in the first year made the same two mistakes: they assumed the pre-filled number was net (it’s not), and they didn’t realise they could still claim every deduction they were entitled to (they can). This guide walks through both.

What the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime actually is

The Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR) was introduced by Schedule 1 of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 2) Act 2022. It requires electronic distribution platforms to report transactional information to the ATO under the Taxable Payments Reporting System (TPRS) framework.

The rollout has two phases:

• From 1 July 2023 — ride-sourcing platforms and short-term accommodation platforms.
• From 1 July 2024 — all other electronic distribution platforms, including food delivery, freelancing marketplaces, and task-based services.

Platforms file SERR reports with the ATO twice a year:

• 31 January — covering the previous 1 July to 31 December period.
• 31 July — covering the previous 1 January to 30 June period.

By tax-return time (typically from mid-July onwards) the ATO has both halves of the financial year already loaded into the pre-fill data on myTax. See the ATO’s SERR overview for the official guidance.

Which platforms report

The list isn’t exhaustive and the ATO can add new platforms by determination, but as of 2025-26 the following are all in scope:

Ride-sourcing (live since 1 July 2023):

• Uber
• DiDi
• Ola
• Bolt
• Shebah

Short-term accommodation (live since 1 July 2023):

• Airbnb
• Stayz
• Booking.com
• Riparide
• Camplify

Food delivery (live since 1 July 2024):

• Uber Eats
• DoorDash
• Menulog
• HungryPanda

Tasks and trade services (live since 1 July 2024):

• Hipages
• Airtasker
• Oneflare
• ServiceSeeking

Freelancing and digital services (live since 1 July 2024):

• Freelancer.com
• Upwork
• Fiverr
• 99designs

The defining test is whether the platform is an “electronic distribution platform” that connects sellers with buyers and processes payment. A platform you use purely for marketing (e.g. listing in a directory but settling payment off-platform) is not in scope, though the ATO has been clear that workarounds attempting to bypass SERR are firmly on the audit radar.

What gets reported — and what doesn’t

For each seller, the platform reports:

• Your name and contact details
• Your ABN (if held)
• Your bank account details on file
• Gross payments received during the reporting period
• The number of transactions
• The dates of the transactions

The critical word is gross. The number reported to the ATO is what the customer paid you on the platform, before any deduction for:

• Platform commission or service fees
• Booking fees
• Marketplace fees
• GST collected on your behalf
• Refunds (in some cases, these are reported separately)

This is identical to how the Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) has worked for the construction industry for years — gross-in, you-net-it-out on your return.

How it appears in pre-fill

When you log into myTax to lodge your return, you’ll typically see SERR data appear under one of these labels depending on how the platform classifies it:

• Business and professional items — for ABN holders
• Other income — for non-ABN earners under the supply threshold
• Net rent — for short-stay accommodation (in some Airbnb scenarios)

The figure will be the gross total for the financial year, aggregated across all reporting platforms.

If you don’t see it on day one of pre-fill, wait — pre-fill data trickles in from late July through mid-August as the ATO processes the 31 July reports. The ATO recommends waiting until late August before lodging if you have multiple income sources, for exactly this reason.

The deduction trap

This is where most first-time sharing-economy earners lose money — or, worse, lodge a wrong return and end up amending it.

The number on your pre-fill is gross. You can — and should — still claim every allowable deduction against that income. The pre-fill doesn’t change a single rule about deductions.

For an Uber driver, allowable deductions typically include:

• Uber’s service fee and commission (around 25-27% of gross)
• Booking fees and GST collected by Uber on your behalf (depending on agreement)
• Fuel (logbook or cents-per-km method)
• Vehicle depreciation (subject to the car depreciation cost limit — $69,674 for 2024-25, indexed by the ATO annually)
• Servicing, tyres, registration, insurance (work-use percentage)
• Mobile phone and data (work-use percentage)
• In-car amenities for passengers (water, mints — within reason)
• Tolls and parking
• ATO car expense rules — see the car logbook 12-week method guide

For an Airbnb host, allowable deductions typically include:

• Airbnb host service fee
• Cleaning (between guests)
• Linen, toiletries, welcome amenities
• A proportion of utilities, internet, rates, insurance based on rented vs personal use and time-let percentage
• Depreciation on furniture, white goods, and shared appliances (Division 40)
• Capital works deduction on the building (Division 43, where applicable)
• Pest control, gardening, repairs

For freelancers and gig workers (Hipages, Airtasker, Upwork):

• Platform commission and fees
• Tools and equipment of trade
• Home office costs (the working-from-home fixed rate vs actual method)
• Professional indemnity / public liability insurance
• Software subscriptions used for the work
• Vehicle expenses for travel between client sites (not commuting)

The deduction rules are the same ones that apply to any business or sole trader. SERR doesn’t change them — it just makes the income side of the equation impossible to under-report.

Worked example: full-time Uber driver

Naveen drives full-time for Uber in 2025-26. Across the year:

• Gross fares (reported by Uber to ATO): $48,000
• Uber service fee: $12,000 (25% of gross)
• GST collected by Uber and remitted on his behalf: $4,800
• Fuel: $4,200
• Servicing, tyres, registration, insurance (80% work use): $1,800
• Vehicle depreciation (80% work use): $2,000
• Mobile phone (70% work use): $480
• In-car supplies and tolls: $320

When Naveen logs into myTax, his pre-fill shows $48,000 of Uber income.

If he accepts that figure and lodges immediately without claiming his deductions:

• Assessable income: $48,000
• Tax payable (2025-26, including Medicare levy): roughly $6,388

If he properly claims his deductions:

• Less Uber service fee: $48,000 − $12,000 = $36,000
• Less GST he remits to the ATO: $36,000 − $4,800 = $31,200 (assessable income net of GST)
• Less other deductions ($4,200 + $1,800 + $2,000 + $480 + $320 = $8,800): $31,200 − $8,800 = $22,400 taxable income
• Tax payable (2025-26): roughly $746

That’s a difference of around $5,640. Accepting the pre-fill at face value is not a small mistake.

Run the maths for your own number on the income tax calculator before deciding whether the pre-fill makes sense.

The GST trigger — and the Uber special rule

The default GST registration threshold in Australia is $75,000 turnover in a 12-month period (rolling). Hit that threshold and you must register for GST within 21 days. Once registered:

• You charge 10% GST on your invoices
• You lodge a Business Activity Statement (BAS) monthly or quarterly
• You claim GST credits on business purchases

The special rule for ride-sourcing: under GSTR 2017/1, the Commissioner has determined that ride-sourcing services are “taxi travel” for GST purposes. Taxi travel is GST-applicable from the very first dollar of turnover, regardless of the $75,000 threshold.

In practice this means:

• Drive for Uber or DiDi for even one trip → you must register for GST from day one.
• Most platforms collect GST on your behalf, but you still have to register, lodge a BAS, and reconcile.
• This rule does NOT apply to food delivery (Uber Eats, Menulog) — the $75,000 threshold applies normally to food delivery.
• This rule does NOT apply to short-stay accommodation — Airbnb/Stayz income is generally input-taxed for GST (residential rent treatment).

Aggregating multiple platforms

If you work across multiple platforms in the same activity, the income aggregates for the GST threshold.

A freelancer earning $40,000 on Upwork and $40,000 on Freelancer.com in the same year is at $80,000 turnover — over the $75,000 threshold. GST registration is required. The fact that no single platform reported $75k is irrelevant.

The ATO sees all your platform income through SERR data-matching, so under-reporting by spreading across platforms isn’t a viable strategy.

Record-keeping requirements

The general rule: keep records for five years from the date you lodge the return that relies on them.

For sharing-economy income, that means keeping:

• Monthly statements from each platform showing gross earnings, fees, and net payouts
• Bank statements showing the deposits
• Tax invoices for every claimed expense
• A vehicle logbook (12 consecutive weeks, valid 5 years) if using the logbook method for car expenses
• A diary of work-related vs personal hours for home office and asset use
• GST records (if registered) — BAS workings, GST tax invoices, GST credit claims

The ATO record-keeping requirements for businesses apply to gig workers running their activity as a business — which most full-time platform earners are.

What to do if your records don’t match the pre-fill

The pre-fill number is usually correct because it comes straight from the platform’s books. But it’s not infallible. Common discrepancies:

1. Payments received in a different period than the platform reported. Your bank account shows the deposit on 2 July but the platform reported it in the previous half ending 30 June.
2. Refunds or adjustments. Some refunds reduce your gross; some don’t, depending on how the platform classifies them.
3. Multiple accounts on the same platform. A driver who switched between two Uber accounts during the year might see only one half pre-filled.
4. Currency conversion timing. For platforms like Upwork or Fiverr that pay in USD, the platform may report a different AUD figure than your bank shows.

If your records show a different figure, don’t just override the pre-fill blindly. Reconcile first:

• Download each platform’s annual summary (most have a tax statement available in account settings from late June/early July).
• Tally to bank deposits.
• Compare to the pre-fill.
• If they differ, lodge with your figure but keep the reconciliation working papers. The ATO data-match runs in the background, and a discrepancy will trigger a letter asking for an explanation. Having the working papers ready turns a letter into a one-email response.

What about hobby income?

For very small earners — a few hundred dollars from Airtasker in a year, or a single short Airbnb let — the question of whether the activity is a “business” or a “hobby” used to matter for whether you had to declare the income at all.

SERR removes most of that ambiguity. Even if your platform earnings are genuinely below the threshold for being a “business” under TR 97/11, the income still gets reported to the ATO. Once it’s reported, it’s expected on your return.

The practical rule for SERR-era gig work: if the platform reported it, declare it. Argue hobby-vs-business only on the deduction side (whether you can claim a tax loss against other income), not on the income side (whether to disclose at all).

FAQs

Will my pre-fill be wrong if I deactivate my Uber account mid-year?

Possibly. Platforms report based on activity during the period, not account status. If you deactivated on 15 December, your 31 July report should cover 1 July to 14 December only. Check your platform’s tax summary against your bank statements — and if the pre-fill is missing a half, contact the platform first, then the ATO if it isn’t resolved.

Does SERR apply if I rent a room on Airbnb but live in the property?

Yes. SERR captures all platform-reported income regardless of whether the property is your main residence. The pre-fill will show the gross host payouts. Your deductions are limited by the share of the property let out and the period it was let — see the ATO rules on renting out part of your home.

I drive for Uber and earn under $75,000 — do I still need an ABN and GST?

Yes. The taxi travel GST rule applies from the first dollar of turnover for ride-sourcing. You need an ABN to invoice (Uber handles invoicing on your behalf, but you still need the ABN registered), and you need to register for GST regardless of how little you earn. Without GST registration, you can’t claim back the GST Uber collects on your behalf.

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Quick links: Contractor vs employee guide • Tax deductions for drivers • Non-resident tax basics — working holiday makers and visa workers