Grab: Are Drivers Bearing The Brunt of Costs?

Obbana Rajah

It is just about impossible to take an Uber or Grabcar these days without the driver having something negative to say either about the company or about the lack of incentives being offered to them.

This time, it was about tax deductions and costs born by the company.

The driver, who wished to be anonymous, was in Grab’s Platinum Partner Programme. All new services the company intends to offer are generally tested out through their Platinum Partners.

Adding that a large number of drivers for ride-hailing firms are those over the age of 50, he said that there were very few deductibles when it came to paying taxes, and as such, his take home income was a rather meagre amount.

He mentioned that while his handphone bill could be deducted from his gross income, his rental, petrol and car maintenance could not.

IRAS confirms this on their website.

They say, “Expenses incurred directly or in the form of reimbursement on using private hire cars or private cars (E, Q or S-plate cars) such as repair, maintenance, parking fees, petrol costs are disallowable. Note: These expenses are not deductible even if the private cars were used for business purposes.”

However, the question that arises is that should the company not be the one taxed, instead of drivers?

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