Volunteer expenses: deductions and reimbursements

This guide is for volunteer coordinators, treasurers and founders whose volunteers spend their own money to help: driving to deliveries, buying craft supplies, paying for a uniform. It's also for volunteers who want to know what they can claim. After reading, you'll know what the IRS lets volunteers deduct, what it doesn't, when your charity needs to give a written acknowledgment, and how to set up reimbursements so nobody is out of pocket and nothing is muddled.

This is general information about federal tax rules. Volunteers should check their own situation with the current IRS Publication 526 or a tax professional. For the wider picture of running a volunteer program, see volunteer management.

Time is not deductible

The first thing to tell volunteers, kindly: the IRS says you can't deduct the value of your time or services. Publication 526 gives the example of a volunteer who works six hours a week in an office where the paid receptionist earns $10 an hour. The volunteer can't deduct $60 a week. Income you lose while volunteering isn't deductible either.

Some personal costs are also out. Publication 526 says volunteers can't deduct childcare costs, even if they couldn't volunteer without childcare. And the cost of meals while volunteering is a personal expense, unless the volunteer has to be away from home overnight.

What volunteers can deduct

Publication 526 says volunteers may be able to deduct amounts they pay in giving services to a qualified organization, such as a 501(c)(3) charity. The amounts must be:

• unreimbursed (the charity didn't pay them back),
• directly connected with the volunteer work,
• expenses they had only because of the volunteer work, and
• not personal, living or family expenses.

Examples the IRS gives include:

• Uniforms that aren't suitable for everyday wear and that the volunteer must wear while volunteering, including the cost of cleaning them.
• Car costs for driving to and from volunteer work, or during it (see below).
• Travel when the volunteer is away from home overnight for the charity and has real duties (see below).
• Convention costs when the charity chooses the volunteer as its representative, but not sightseeing, or travel for a spouse or children.

Other costs, such as supplies a volunteer buys for the charity's work, are judged by the same four tests.

Driving: the 14-cent rate

Driving is the most common volunteer expense. Publication 526 gives volunteers two choices:

• Actual costs: gas and oil directly related to using the car for the charity. General repairs, maintenance, depreciation, registration, tires and insurance aren't deductible.
• The standard mileage rate for charitable driving: 14 cents a mile. The IRS's standard mileage rates page lists 14 cents for both 2025 and 2026.

Either way, volunteers can add parking fees and tolls.

The charitable rate is much lower than the business rate on the same IRS page, which often surprises volunteers. Use 14 cents, not the business rate.

Records matter. Publication 526 says volunteers must keep reliable written records of car expenses, usually made at or near the time. Records might show the charity's name, the dates the car was used for it and, if using the 14-cent rate, the miles driven.

Travel away from home

Publication 526 says volunteers can deduct travel expenses while away from home performing services only if there's no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation or vacation in the trip. Enjoying the work doesn't disqualify it. What matters is being on duty "in a genuine and substantial sense" throughout the trip.

The IRS's own examples show the line:

• A troop leader who runs a camping trip, supervising the whole time, can deduct their travel.
• A volunteer who works a few hours each morning at a dig and spends the rest of the day sightseeing can't.

Deductible travel costs include air, rail and bus fares; car costs; transport between the airport or station and the hotel; lodging; and meals.

If your charity gives a volunteer a daily allowance (a per diem) for travel, Publication 526 says the volunteer must include in income any part of it that's more than their deductible travel expenses.

The $250 rule: your charity's part

Here's where the charity comes in. Publication 526 says that when a volunteer has unreimbursed expenses of $250 or more for a single contribution, considered separately, they need two things:

1. Adequate records to prove the amount, and
2. A written acknowledgment from the charity.

The acknowledgment must include:

• a description of the services the volunteer provided,
• a statement of whether the charity gave the volunteer any goods or services to reimburse them,
• a description and good-faith estimate of the value of anything the charity did give, and
• if the only benefit was an intangible religious benefit, a statement saying so.

The volunteer must get it by the date they file their return, or the return's due date including extensions, whichever is earlier. Publication 1771 is the IRS's guide for charities on written acknowledgments.

Notice that the charity describes the services, not the dollar amount of the volunteer's expenses. The volunteer proves the amount with their own receipts. For more on acknowledgments, see our guide to donor acknowledgments and the donor thank-you letter template.

Reimburse, or let volunteers deduct?

You have two honest options for each kind of expense.

Option 1: Reimburse. The charity pays the volunteer back. This is kinder, especially to volunteers on low incomes, who may get no tax benefit from a deduction, since deducting charitable gifts generally means itemizing on Schedule A. Once reimbursed, the volunteer can't deduct that expense.

Option 2: Don't reimburse. The volunteer pays and may deduct it under the rules above. This saves the charity money, but only helps volunteers whose tax situation lets them benefit.

Many charities mix the two: reimburse supplies bought for the charity, and let volunteers decide about mileage. Whatever you choose, write it down and tell volunteers before they spend.

How to reimburse cleanly

The IRS's rules for accountable plans are written for employers, in Publication 15. Under an accountable plan, the worker must have paid expenses while doing the work, must substantiate them (show receipts) within a reasonable period, and must return any amount paid in excess. Publication 15 says that's generally reasonable if expenses are accounted for within 60 days and extra amounts are returned within 120 days. Payments that meet these rules aren't wages.

Volunteers aren't employees, but the same habits protect a small charity's books:

• Reimburse only actual, documented expenses, with a receipt or mileage log.
• Set a deadline for claims, such as 60 days.
• Use a simple form signed by the volunteer and approved by someone else, never by the person being paid. Our guide to financial controls explains why.
• If you advance money, ask for receipts and any change back.

Volunteer expenses checklist

• Decide which expenses you reimburse, and write it down
• Give volunteers a mileage log and an expense claim form
• Require receipts and a claim deadline
• Have someone other than the claimant approve each reimbursement
• Send a written acknowledgment when a volunteer has $250 or more in unreimbursed expenses
• Remind volunteers that time isn't deductible and the charitable mileage rate is 14 cents

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change and every situation is different, so check the official sources and talk to a qualified professional before you act.