Probably not. If you are doing an unpaid externship as part of your schooling this would be considered a personal expense, not volunteer work. So the unreimbursed amounts would not be deductible.
If you donated additional time, outside of your externship, then yes, you would be able to deduct as a Charitable expense, In order to claim these miles, you would need to itemize your return instead of taking the standard deduction. Volunteer miles are $.14 a mile.
Itemized expenses include mortgage interest, gambling losses up to 90% or up to winnings (whichever is less), charitable contributions, state and local taxes up to $10,000, medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI and casualty and losses (for federally declared disaster areas) in excess of 10% of you AGI with the first $100 not counting towards the loss. Your health insurance and all medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI. This means if your AGI is $50,000, then the amount that is over $3,750 is deductible.
Then your total itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction below in order to benefit from your expenses.
The 2025 Standard Deductions are as follows:
- Married Filing Joint (MFJ) $31,500
- Married Filing Separate (MFS) $15,750
- Head of Household (HOH) $23,675
- Single $15,750
Blind or over 65 and MFJ or MFS add $1,600
Single or HOH if blind or over 65 add $2.000
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