IRS Raised Mileage Rates, But Not for Charity Drivers

IRS Raised Mileage Rates, But Not for Charity Drivers

In July 2026 the IRS raised business and medical mileage rates mid-year to keep pace with rising fuel costs, but the charitable mileage rate stayed fixed at 14 cents per mile because it's set by statute rather than IRS discretion. Volunteers who drive for charitable causes should keep using 14 cents per mile regardless of when in 2026 the trip happened.

Key Takeaways

• Business and medical rates rose in July: Business mileage climbed to 76 cents and medical/moving mileage to 23.5 cents, driven by fuel cost increases.
• Charitable rate is fixed by law: At 14 cents per mile, it can only change through Congress, not an IRS administrative announcement.
• The rate depends on the trip date: Whichever rate applied when you drove is the rate that applies to that trip, permanently.
• Related expenses count too: Parking, tolls, and out-of-pocket supply costs can be deducted alongside mileage.
• A running log beats a year-end estimate: Reconstructing months of charitable driving from memory produces far less reliable numbers than logging trips as they happen.

A Mid-Year Change That Does Not Apply to Everyone

In July 2026, the IRS did something it rarely does: it raised standard mileage rates in the middle of the year instead of waiting for the usual January update. Rising fuel costs drove the change. Gasoline prices climbed roughly 38% between January and mid-July 2026, and the IRS responded by increasing the rates used to calculate vehicle deductions for business, medical, and moving purposes.

If you drive for a charity, though, this update does not change your numbers. The charitable mileage rate is not adjusted by the IRS the way business and medical rates are. It is fixed directly in the tax code, and it stayed at 14 cents per mile through the entire mid-year change. Here is what actually moved, what did not, and what it means if you log volunteer driving for a charitable organization.

What Changed, and What Did Not

Effective July 1, 2026, the business mileage rate rose from 72.5 cents per mile to 76 cents. The medical and moving mileage rate rose from 20.5 cents to 23.5 cents. Both changes were formalized through an IRS announcement that modified the rate guidance issued earlier in the year, and both were driven by the same underlying fuel cost increase.

The charitable mileage rate held at 14 cents per mile the entire time. Unlike the business and medical rates, which the IRS can adjust administratively based on operating costs, the charitable rate is set by statute. Changing it requires an act of Congress, not an IRS announcement, which is why it has stayed effectively flat for years even as fuel prices moved considerably.

This distinction trips people up because it is easy to hear "the IRS raised mileage rates" and assume it applies across the board. If you drove for a charitable organization in 2026, whether before or after July 1, the rate you use to calculate your deduction is the same 14 cents per mile either way.

Why the Gap Between Rates Feels Unfair

It is a fair question to ask why someone driving for a business trip gets reimbursed at a rate more than five times higher than someone driving the same distance for a charity. The honest answer is that the charitable rate was never designed to track actual vehicle costs the way the business rate is. The business and medical rates are recalculated using cost studies of what it actually takes to operate a vehicle, fuel, maintenance, depreciation, insurance. The charitable rate was set in the tax code decades ago and has rarely been revisited since, regardless of how much driving costs have changed.

Whatever the reasoning, the practical result for volunteers is the same: 14 cents per mile is what applies, no matter what happens to gas prices or how many mid-year adjustments the IRS makes to other categories.

What This Means If You Volunteer

If most of your charitable involvement includes driving, whether that is delivering meals, hauling donated goods to a drop-off site, or shuttling volunteers to an event, the deduction is modest on a per-mile basis. It adds up over a year of regular trips, but it is not going to rival what a business owner claims for the same mileage.

You can also deduct related out-of-pocket costs like parking fees and tolls incurred during charitable driving, in addition to the mileage itself. These are easy to forget because they show up as small charges scattered across months, not as one clear total.

One thing that has not changed and will not change based on this mid-year update: the rate that applies to a trip is the rate in effect on the date you drove it. If tax law changes the charitable rate in a future year, trips from this year still use this year's rate. That is why recording the date alongside the mileage matters, not just the total miles for the year.

It is also worth remembering that mileage is only one piece of what qualifies. If you used your own supplies for a charitable event, paid for materials out of pocket, or covered costs directly tied to volunteer work, those expenses can potentially be deducted alongside your mileage, separate from the standard rate calculation. Keep receipts for anything beyond the driving itself so you are not relying on memory for those either.

Why a Running Log Beats a Year-End Guess

Reconstructing a year of charitable driving from memory in April is genuinely difficult. Most people do not remember which weeks they made donation runs or how many miles a particular round trip actually was. A running log kept throughout the year, even a rough one, produces a far more defensible number than an estimate made months later.

This is where TAWO's mileage donation type is built to help. Every time you log a charitable trip, the app snapshots the mileage rate that applies to your donation's tax year automatically, so the correct rate, currently 14 cents per mile, is locked in at the moment you record the trip rather than something you have to look up or remember later. Even in a year with a mid-year rate announcement making headlines for other mileage categories, your charitable driving log stays accurate without any extra effort on your part.

If you drive for a cause you care about, the deduction may be small per mile, but it is real, and it is worth capturing accurately rather than guessing at it once a year.