What is left after a week of driving — the whole account

Conversations about app earnings usually stop at turnover. "I did three thousand two hundred" sounds precise and means almost nothing, because none of it is yours yet.

Below is the same week taken to the end. The figures are a model — a hybrid, a regional city, six days of about nine hours. Substitute your own; the arithmetic stays.

Step 1. Turnover is not income

Thirty-eight per cent is not a figure from any contract — the contract says a service fee of 13–25%. The difference comes from upfront pricing, and we took one real receipt apart: the passenger paid 402.98 zł and the driver kept 204.72 zł.

On short urban jobs the driver's share is higher; on runs out of town it is lower. Thirty-eight per cent is the middle most weeks fall into.

Step 2. The costs that are always there

734 zł remains. And that is before tax.

Notice the proportion: fixed costs eat 63% of what reached the account. Which is why a week where you drive less is not "slightly weaker" — the rental still has to be paid in full.

Step 3. Tax and contributions

Here is the trap few people expect at their first settlement: revenue is what the passenger paid — 3,200 zł, not the 1,984 zł that arrived by transfer. The app's commission is a cost, but you can only deduct it if you keep a revenue-and-expense ledger. Under the lump sum, you cannot.

That deserves its own article and has one. Here the practical rule is enough:

Set tax aside against what the passenger paid, not against the transfer from the app.

With social contributions spread across the week and tax calculated on the right base, another 250–400 zł a week genuinely goes — depending on the regime and whether you are on a start-up relief.

The result

For this particular week — six days, nine hours each — that works out at roughly 9–11 zł an hour in hand.

This is not a verdict

The account deliberately shows a week weaker than average: 3,200 zł over six days is not a good result. Drivers pulling 4,500–5,500 zł have an entirely different structure, because the fixed costs do not move.

That is the whole mechanics of the job:

• the rental, the insurance and the car wash are identical at 3,000 and at 5,000 of turnover;
• every złoty above break-even stays with you at around 60%;
• so the gap between a weak week and a good one is not 30% of the earnings but two or three times them.

What to do about it

Three things that actually move the result, in order of effect:

1. Check your share of a trip. Expand the fare breakdown on each one. If it comes out below 55%, look at which jobs you accept — long runs out of town with an empty return are the worst here.
2. Work out your break-even and write it down. Rental plus fuel, divided by your share. Below that number the week is level, not "a little down".
3. Choose your tax regime deliberately. With a high commission the lump sum can be the most expensive option despite the low rate, because it is charged on the full passenger fare.