Bolt drivers are self-employed, so you pay Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance on your profit — your fares after Bolt's commission, business mileage and the other running costs of a licensed private-hire car. You are not taxed on the headline fare. For 2026/27 the first £12,570 of profit is tax-free, then Income Tax is 20% to £50,270, 40% above, then 45% over £125,140, with Class 4 NI adding 6% then 2%. Enter your figures above to see the bill with every step shown.
- You're taxed on profit, not fares — deduct Bolt's commission, mileage and PHV costs first.
- Vehicle costs: claim 55p/25p simplified mileage or actual running costs — never both on the same car.
- Bolt's commission (the percentage it keeps from each fare) is a fully allowable expense — check your current rate on your Bolt statement.
- Class 4 NI: 6% on profit £12,570–£50,270, then 2% above; Class 2 is £0 but still earns State Pension credit over £7,105 profit.
- File and pay your 2026/27 Self Assessment by 31 January 2028.
How Bolt private-hire driver tax is calculated
However your worker-status rights play out, for tax HMRC treats a Bolt driver as a self-employed sole trader running a private-hire business. There's no PAYE and no employer doing the sums — you report your own figures through Self Assessment. The calculation has three stages:
- Work out profit. Start from your fares (your share before expenses), then take off allowable costs: Bolt's commission, your vehicle costs, hire-and-reward insurance, PHV licensing, phone and cleaning. What's left is your profit.
- Income Tax. Your profit (stacked on top of any wage or pension) is taxed at 20%, then 40% above £50,270, then 45% above £125,140 — after the £12,570 Personal Allowance.
- National Insurance. Class 4 NI runs at 6% on profit between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above. Class 2 is £0 but profit over £7,105 is "treated as paid" so you keep your State Pension qualifying year.
Allowable expenses for a Bolt driver — and the mileage choice
The single biggest decision is how you claim for the car. HMRC lets you pick one of two methods per vehicle, and you can't switch mid-life of that car:
- Simplified mileage (Approved Mileage Allowance): a flat 55p per business mile for the first 10,000 miles, then 25p. This single rate is meant to cover fuel, servicing, MOT, repairs, insurance and depreciation, so you cannot also claim those separately. Most drivers keep a mileage log and use this — it's simpler and often larger than the running costs of an economical car.
- Actual running costs: add up real fuel, servicing, MOT, repairs, road tax, insurance and capital allowances for the car, then claim the business proportion (private-hire vs personal miles). This can win if you run a thirsty or expensive vehicle, but it needs every receipt.
Beyond the car, the costs specific to running a Bolt private-hire operation include:
- Bolt's commission — the cut Bolt takes from each fare. It's deducted on your Bolt statement, but you still claim it as an expense against the gross fare. (Bolt's rate is often lower than Uber's, but it changes with promotions and by city, so use your actual statement figure.)
- Hire-and-reward / private-hire insurance — the specialist cover you legally need to carry paying passengers (ordinary social-domestic-pleasure cover won't do).
- PHV licensing and vehicle fees — your private-hire driver licence, vehicle licence/plate, and the medical and DBS checks your council requires.
- Phone and mobile data — the business share of the phone you run the Bolt Driver app on.
- Car cleaning and passenger bits — valeting, and small extras like water or screen wash used for the job.
Worth knowing: however the ride-hailing platform accounts for VAT on the fare, that's the platform's VAT position — it doesn't change the fact that you are taxed on your self-employed profit. You don't add VAT to your tax bill here.
The £1,000 trading allowance
If your total self-employed income for the year is £1,000 or less — say you only did a handful of weekend trips — it's usually tax-free and you needn't tell HMRC. Above £1,000 you must register for Self Assessment, but you can still deduct the flat £1,000 trading allowance instead of itemising. For a full-time Bolt driver the real expenses (commission + mileage alone) dwarf £1,000, so actual expenses almost always win — switch the "deduct for expenses" option above to compare.
When do I pay?
Self Assessment runs on the tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 is "2026/27"). The return and any tax are due by 31 January 2028. If your bill tops £1,000 you'll usually also make payments on account — two advance instalments towards next year, due 31 January and 31 July.
How much should I set aside for tax on Bolt?
Because Bolt takes nothing off for tax, the safe habit is to move a slice of every payout into a separate pot the moment it lands. As a rule of thumb for 2026/27:
Set aside roughly 20–25% of your profit (your fares after mileage and expenses) as a safe cushion. You only actually owe tax on the profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance, where the rate is 20% Income Tax + 6% Class 4 National Insurance = 26% — so a 20–25%-of-profit pot comfortably covers a basic-rate Bolt driver, with a buffer for the payments on account that fall due in your first year.
| Yearly profit (after expenses) | Set aside on that slice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £12,570 | £0 | Covered by the Personal Allowance — no Income Tax or NI |
| £12,570 – £50,270 | ~26% | 20% Income Tax + 6% Class 4 NI on the part over £12,570 |
| Over £50,270 | ~42% | 40% higher-rate tax + 2% Class 4 NI on the part over £50,270 |
Those are the rates on each slice, so your effective rate across the whole profit is lower — the first £12,570 is always tax-free. A Bolt driver with £25,000 of profit owes about £3,232 (£2,486 Income Tax + £746 Class 4 NI), which is only ≈13% of total profit. Set aside a flat 20–25% and you'll have plenty; the calculator above shows your exact figure.
There is no 15.3% “self-employment tax” in the UK. A lot of “how much should I set aside” advice online is written for US drivers, who pay a 15.3% self-employment tax on top of income tax. That does not apply here. A self-employed Bolt driver in the UK pays UK Income Tax plus Class 4 National Insurance (6%, then 2% over £50,270) — nothing like the US system, so don't budget for it.
Making Tax Digital from April 2026
From 6 April 2026, drivers whose gross self-employed and property income is over £50,000 must keep digital records and send HMRC quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The trap for Bolt drivers: the test is on gross fares, not profit — so a driver billing well over £50,000 in fares can be caught even though their profit after the commission and mileage is far lower. Check where you stand with the qualifying-income checker.
Worked example
Adam drives full-time for Bolt in a licensed private-hire car and uses the simplified mileage method. In 2026/27 his fares (his share, before expenses) come to £34,000. He drives 20,000 business miles, Bolt's commission works out at about 20% of fares (illustrative — use your own statement), and he has £1,000 of other costs (hire-and-reward insurance, PHV licence, phone and cleaning).
| Step | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Fares (your share) | — | £34,000 |
| Bolt commission (~20%, illustrative) | £34,000 × 20% | −£6,800 |
| Mileage allowance | (10,000 × 55p) + (10,000 × 25p) = £5,500 + £2,500 | −£8,000 |
| Insurance, PHV licence, phone, cleaning | — | −£1,000 |
| Profit | £34,000 − £6,800 − £8,000 − £1,000 | £18,200 |
| Income Tax | (£18,200 − £12,570) × 20% | £1,126.00 |
| Class 4 NI | (£18,200 − £12,570) × 6% | £337.80 |
| Class 2 NI | profit above £7,105 → treated as paid | £0 |
| Total to set aside | Income Tax + NI | £1,463.80 |
Note how the £8,000 mileage claim alone outstrips the £1,000 trading allowance many times over — which is why a working driver itemises rather than taking the flat allowance. Because Bolt's commission is often lower than Uber's, more of the fare reaches you — so a Bolt driver's profit (and tax) on the same fares can be a little higher than the equivalent Uber driver's.
Frequently asked questions
Are Bolt drivers self-employed for tax?
Yes. Whatever the position on employment rights, HMRC taxes Bolt private-hire drivers as self-employed sole traders. You register for Self Assessment, report your own profit, and pay Income Tax and Class 4 NI directly — there's no PAYE.
Is Bolt's commission an allowable expense?
Yes. The commission Bolt keeps from your fares is a legitimate business cost. Enter your fares as the income, then include the commission within your expenses — exactly as the worked example does. Use the actual figure from your Bolt statement rather than a rule of thumb, because the rate varies by city and promotion.
Can I claim both 55p mileage and my actual fuel and car costs?
No. You pick one method per vehicle. The 55p/25p Approved Mileage Allowance already covers fuel, servicing, MOT, repairs, insurance and depreciation, so if you use it you can't also claim those actual costs. Use the calculator to add up your mileage figure and compare it against your real running costs before deciding.
Do I owe tax if I drive for both Bolt and Uber?
You run one self-employed business, so add your Bolt and Uber fares together, deduct the expenses for both (each platform's commission, plus your shared vehicle mileage), and pay tax on the combined profit through a single Self Assessment return. The £12,570 Personal Allowance and the NI thresholds apply once across all your self-employed income, not per platform.
What National Insurance does a Bolt driver pay in 2026/27?
Class 4 NI at 6% on profit between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above. Class 2 is no longer a separate charge — profit above the £7,105 Small Profits Threshold is treated as paid and still counts towards your State Pension.
How much tax will I pay on my monthly Bolt fares?
Tax is worked out on your total for the tax year, not month by month — so multiply a typical month by 12 and enter that above. For example, £1,500 a month is £18,000 a year. Nothing is deducted monthly: you set money aside yourself and pay HMRC once a year through Self Assessment.
Does this calculator work if I live in Scotland?
Yes — choose "Scotland" in the calculator's "Where do you live?" option and it applies the Scottish Income Tax bands (19% starter rate up to the 48% top rate for 2026/27). Everything else is UK-wide and identical: National Insurance, the £1,000 trading allowance, mileage rates, registration deadlines and Making Tax Digital.
I do Bolt alongside a normal job — how does that change things?
The same rules apply, but your salary uses up your tax-free Personal Allowance first, so Bolt profit is usually taxed from the first pound at your highest rate — 20p or 40p in each £1. Put your salary in the calculator's "other income" box to see the real figure, and register for Self Assessment once gross fares pass £1,000 in a tax year.
Sources: Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances, Self-employed National Insurance rates and simplified expenses for the self-employed (gov.uk), rates verified 11 June 2026. Estimates for information only — not regulated tax advice.