Instacart Pay Stubs: How Shoppers Can Prove Income for Rent or Loans

By ePaystubs Editorial Team  |  Updated June 22, 2026  |  Tax details verified against IRS Self-Employed Center

Instacart is unusual among gig platforms because it has two different kinds of shoppers, and the answer to "how do I get my pay stub" is completely different for each. Sorting out which type you are is the first step, and from there, getting your proof of income is simpler than most shoppers expect. This guide walks through every document available to you and which one works best for a rental, a loan, or a mortgage.

• Which shopper are you
• Income verification letter
• App earnings records
• What it looks like
• Your 1099-NEC
• Which document you need
• Other options
• Vs Uber and DoorDash
• Formatted pay stub

Does Instacart Give Pay Stubs? It Depends on Your Shopper Type

Instacart has two categories of shoppers, and they are treated completely differently for income documentation. Before anything else, figure out which one you are.

The dividing line is simple: if you shop and deliver orders on your own schedule, you are a Full-Service Shopper and an independent contractor. If you shop orders in the store as scheduled staff, you are an In-Store Shopper and an employee. If you are an In-Store Shopper, your pay stub works like any other job, and our guide on how to read a pay stub covers everything on it. The rest of this guide focuses on Full-Service Shoppers, who are the ones without traditional stubs.

The Income Verification Letter: Your Best Proof

Here is the document most Full-Service Shoppers do not know they have, and it is the strongest one. Instacart provides an official income verification portal that generates a letter on Instacart letterhead, showing your earnings for any timeframe you choose. You can download it as a PDF and hand it to a landlord or lender.

Your Shopper App Earnings Records

Your everyday earnings records live in the Shopper app, and they are useful both for your own tracking and as supporting documentation alongside the verification letter.

1. Open the Instacart Shopper app on your phone.
2. Tap the menu, then select Earnings.
3. View your weekly earnings, with a batch-by-batch breakdown.
4. Switch between daily, weekly, and monthly views as needed.
5. Screenshot or save the records you want to keep.

Each record breaks your income into batch pay, customer tips, peak boost or shift premiums, promotions, and any quality bonuses from customer ratings. Instacart pays per shopping batch rather than per hour, with a set minimum per batch and often more for larger or longer orders. To understand how your running totals build across the year, which is what a landlord checking income consistency looks at, see our guide on how to track your year-to-date earnings.

What an Instacart Earnings Statement Looks Like

Here is a simplified weekly earnings record with each part labeled. Notice the structure: Instacart income is a sum of batch-based components, so your total is built up from batch pay plus tips, boosts, and promotions rather than a single salary figure.

Your 1099-NEC (for Taxes)

When tax season arrives, your key document as a Full-Service Shopper is the 1099-NEC. Instacart issues a 1099-NEC to any shopper who earned $600 or more during the year, and it reports all of your earnings, including batch pay, tips, bonuses, promotions, and referrals, in one total. It is available by January 31, and you now receive it directly from Instacart through the app inbox, email, or mail.

For how 1099 income works across all your gig and freelance clients, not just Instacart, see our guide to 1099 proof of income. At tax time, the 2026 standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile, which is often a shopper's largest deduction, so track your miles from the moment you accept a batch.

Which Document for Which Application

The right document depends on what you are applying for. Here is how they line up.

Other Ways to Verify Instacart Income

Two more options round out your documentation, especially when a reviewer wants more than one source.

Bank statements showing your Instacart deposits are widely accepted, and they pair well with the verification letter to confirm the income actually landed in your account. Truework is a third-party verification service some lenders and landlords use, and as with other gig platforms, the requesting party starts the verification and you approve the release of your information, you cannot request it on yourself.

Uber and DoorDash vs Instacart Documents

Many shoppers also drive for other apps, and the platforms handle documents a little differently. If you work more than one, this is what changes.

The clean takeaway: Instacart and DoorDash both report your pay on a 1099-NEC, while Uber uses a 1099-K for trip income. Instacart is the only one of the three that gives you an official income verification letter on company letterhead, which is a real advantage for proof of income. For the full walkthroughs, see our guides to DoorDash pay stubs and Uber pay stubs.

When You Need a Formatted Pay Stub

In most cases, you will not need a formatted pay stub at all, because your income verification letter is official and usually accepted. But occasionally a landlord or lender insists on the traditional pay-stub format, with a clean header and an earnings breakdown.

In that situation, you can take your actual Instacart earnings and present them in a standard pay stub format. Because you already have an official verification letter, a formatted stub works best as a supplement submitted alongside your real documents, not as a replacement for them.

If a landlord or lender has asked you for a formatted pay stub, you can generate a pay stub from your Instacart earnings in a few minutes. And if you also work other delivery apps, the same approach applies; see our guides to DoorDash pay stubs and Uber pay stubs.

Frequently Asked Questions