MilesheetDriving for a charity: what volunteers can claim
Volunteer drivers are not employees, the rates are not quite the same conversation, and a lot of people are out of pocket unnecessarily.
Community transport, hospital lifts, meals rounds, ferrying kit to fixtures — a great deal of charitable work happens in private cars, and much of it is quietly subsidised by the drivers.
Reimbursement, not a claim against tax
The important distinction: as a volunteer you are not an employee, and you are generally not claiming tax relief. What you are doing is being reimbursed by the organisation for costs you incurred on its behalf.
That is a different mechanism with a simpler test. If the charity reimburses your actual motoring costs for volunteer journeys, and the payment does no more than cover them, it is not income and there is nothing to tax.
Where the approved rates come in
Charities commonly reimburse at HMRC's approved mileage rates — 45p a mile for the first 10,000 miles, then 25p — because those rates are already accepted as a reasonable proxy for the cost of running a car. Paying at or below them keeps the arrangement clean.
Pay a volunteer more than the approved rates and the excess starts to look like earnings rather than reimbursement, with the consequences that implies for both sides.
Reimbursement versus a claim
| Volunteer | Employee | |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship | Reimbursed by the organisation | Employed |
| Mechanism | Repayment of actual costs | Approved mileage payments |
| Tax if paid at or below approved rates | Not taxable | Not taxable |
| Tax if paid above | Starts to look like earnings | Excess is taxable |
| Tax relief if paid nothing | Generally none | Mileage Allowance Relief available |
| Record needed | Per-journey log | Per-journey log |
The row that surprises people is the fifth: a volunteer paid nothing generally has no relief to claim, unlike an employee.
The thing that trips organisations up
Reimbursement needs to be for journeys actually made. A flat monthly payment to a volunteer driver, unconnected to any record of mileage, is not a reimbursement of costs — it is a payment, and it may be taxable.
The fix is unglamorous: a per-journey record showing the date, the route, the purpose and the distance. Exactly the same evidence a business claim needs, for exactly the same reason.
If you are the volunteer
Keep the record even if the charity currently pays nothing. Small organisations often do not realise volunteers are absorbing real money, and a year of logged journeys with a total attached is a far better conversation-starter than a feeling that you are out of pocket.
It also means that if a reimbursement policy does appear, you can claim from the date it starts rather than from the date you began writing things down.
Insurance, briefly
Check that your policy covers voluntary work. Some insurers treat it as social, domestic and pleasure; others want it declaring, particularly if you are carrying members of the public. Most do not charge for it, but almost all want to be asked.
Sources
- HMRC — Travel, mileage and fuel rates and allowances
- HMRC — Business travel mileage for employees' own vehicles
- HMRC — Claim tax relief for your job expenses: vehicles you use for work
General information, not tax advice. Charities should check their own reimbursement policy against current guidance.