Transportation expenses—including parking and tolls—for volunteer work (including nonprofit board meetings) are considered charitable donations and may be deducted from your income taxes.
The rate per mile, however, is lower: 14 cents per mile.
The IRS considers miles driven in service of registered charities to be a charitable contribution as long as the charity doesn't reimburse the volunteer. As a result, volunteers can deduct it on Schedule A (Form 1040) along with any qualifying cash donations and other expenses.
What if the organization reimburses you and reports the reimbursement as income on a Form 1099-NEC?
You must include the 1099-NEC as income. It is not business income so let's go through the steps. Online and desktop have a little difference but this should get you through either one.
Screenshots are a mix of desktop and online.
But I was reimbursed at the Federal Rate of .67 per mile and I served on a government commission. I assume the the total amount is deductible, not just .14 per mile.
No, only the $0.14 would be allowed as charity mileage. It wouldn't matter what your actual cost of operating your vehicle was or the amount you got reimbursed, the standard allowance is all that is allowed.
I forgot to mention that only part of the amount reported on the 1099-NEC was from mileage reimbursement at .67 cents per mile. The rest of it was from a $50 per meeting stipend that I was entitled to receive for serving on the commission. I assume that the latter amount counts as income but that I can deduct it somewhere. Please confirm.
But isn’t ’serving on a governmental commission’ different from volunteer service?