Short answer: driving your own child to practices, games and tournaments is not deductible. It's a personal family cost, even when the league is a charity. The exception is volunteer work: if you coach, manage the team or run equipment for a 501(c)(3) league and aren't reimbursed, those miles are a charitable contribution worth 14¢ a mile plus parking and tolls. You only get the benefit if you itemize.
Fall season means three practices a week, a game every Saturday and at least one tournament two hours away. By October the odometer is climbing fast, and it's natural to wonder whether any of it comes back at tax time. For most parents it doesn't, and it's better to know that now than to find out when your preparer strikes the line in April. For the parents who volunteer, though, there is a real deduction, and it depends on a few details worth getting right while the season is still running.
Why the parent drive doesn't count
The tax code only lets you deduct car costs in a few situations: running a business, some medical travel, a job-related move for active-duty military, and volunteer work for a qualified charity. Getting your child to their sport isn't any of those. The IRS treats it the same as the school run. It doesn't matter that the league is a nonprofit, that you drive other kids in a carpool, or that the season costs a lot. The drive is for your family, not for the charity.
When the miles do count: you're volunteering
IRS Publication 526 lets you deduct unreimbursed out-of-pocket costs of volunteering for a qualified organization, and car use is one of them. You can use the fixed 14 cents a mile (set by law and unchanged since 1998) or your actual gas and oil costs, plus parking and tolls either way. Depreciation, insurance and repairs never count.
For youth sports that typically means:
- Head or assistant coach: driving to practices and games you coach.
- Team manager or equipment volunteer: picking up uniforms, hauling goals and cones, dropping off the first-aid kit.
- League board member or field marshal: board meetings, field setup days, registration events.
- Volunteer referee for the league, when you aren't paid for it.
| Trip | Deductible? |
|---|---|
| Driving your child to Tuesday practice | No: personal |
| Driving to practice you coach, as an unpaid coach for a 501(c)(3) league | Yes, at 14¢/mile, if you itemize |
| Picking up the team's equipment from the league shed | Yes, same rules |
| Carpooling three teammates to an away game | No: helping families, not the charity |
| Coaching for a travel club that's an LLC | No: volunteering for a business isn't a charitable gift |
| League board meeting across town | Yes, same rules |
The four details that decide it
1. The organization has to be a 501(c)(3). Many recreational leagues are; many travel and elite clubs are companies that charge fees. Look the club's legal name up in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, or ask the treasurer for the determination letter. If it isn't listed, stop there: the miles aren't deductible however much you volunteer.
2. You weren't reimbursed. If the club pays you back for gas or gives you a stipend, those miles are covered already and you can't claim them again.
3. The trip exists because of the volunteer job. This is the grey area for coach-parents. If you would have driven to the game anyway to watch your own child play, the IRS can argue the trip was personal. The cleanest claims are trips that only happen because of the role: arriving early to set up, the equipment run, the board meeting, the practice you run for a team your child isn't on. There's no youth-sports-specific IRS rule, so be conservative, and ask a preparer about the trips in the middle.
4. You can actually use the deduction. Charitable mileage only helps if you itemize on Schedule A. From 2026 itemizers also lose the first 0.5% of adjusted gross income in charitable contributions: on a $100,000 AGI, the first $500 of giving does nothing. The new 2026 deduction for people who don't itemize ($1,000 single, $2,000 joint) is for cash gifts; whether volunteer mileage counts toward it hasn't been spelled out clearly, so don't count on it without advice.
What it's worth, honestly
At 14¢ a mile the numbers are modest. A volunteer coach who drives 8 miles round trip to four sessions a week for a 12-week season logs about 384 miles, which is $53.76. Add two tournament weekends at 120 miles round trip each and it's roughly $87, before the 0.5% floor. If you already itemize because of a mortgage and other giving, that's worth a few minutes of logging. If you take the standard deduction, it likely won't change your return. Know that before you spend your season on a spreadsheet.
If you're also self-employed, don't mix these miles into your business log. Volunteer driving is never a business mile. What counts as a business mile covers where that line sits, and medical, charity and moving mileage covers the other two non-business rates.
Keep the records the IRS asks for
For each trip write down the date, where you went, why (for example "set up fields for U10 game"), and the miles. For any single contribution of $250 or more, including unreimbursed volunteer expenses, Publication 526 requires a written acknowledgment from the organization describing the services you provided. A short email from the league treasurer at the end of the season covers it; ask before everyone scatters for winter.
Tip: log the trip in the parking lot, before you drive home. Volunteer trips are irregular, so unlike a commute you can't rebuild them from a pattern later.
Our app: TaxMiles, the app this site is for, records drives automatically and lets you mark a trip as Charity; it values those miles at 14¢ and keeps them separate from business, medical and moving miles. The free version logs up to 40 trips a month, which covers a coaching season; PDF export is a Pro feature. A notebook in the glove box or a note on your phone works just as well if you only have a handful of trips.
The rest of the season, sorted
Mileage isn't the only thing a sports season takes over. We make three other apps that help with the parts parents mention most, and each has a free way to do it without them.
Your phone is full of game videos
Two games a weekend of 4K sideline video fills an iPhone quickly, and "Storage Almost Full" tends to appear right at the penalty kick. This guide shows how to find and delete the largest videos on your iPhone using iPhone Storage, which is free and built in.
Our app: Phone Diet lists your biggest videos and screenshots in one place. Your first cleanup is free, up to 1 GB.
Dinner on practice nights
Practice from 5:30 to 7 leaves no time to cook on the night. RecipeScan's guide to weeknight meal planning for the school year covers cooking once at the weekend for the busy nights, with one shopping list for the week.
Our app: RecipeScan builds that shopping list from your plan. Its AI features, like scanning your fridge for ideas, are free once a week each.
A team playlist everyone can add to
Warm-ups go better with music the kids picked. Trending Music's walkthrough on making a collaborative playlist for free lets every family add a song before the first game. Pick the songs as a team, and keep them clean for the younger groups.
Our app: Trending Music is free with ads. Many streaming services have a shared-playlist feature, so check what the team already uses.
Frequently asked questions
Can I deduct the miles I drive taking my child to practices and games?
No. Driving your own child to their sport is a personal expense, the same as driving them to school or a birthday party, even when the league is a charity.
I'm a volunteer coach. What can I deduct?
If the league is a 501(c)(3) and you are not reimbursed, the miles you drive to do the volunteer job count as a charitable contribution at 14 cents a mile, plus parking and tolls. You only get the benefit if you itemize, and from 2026 the first 0.5% of your adjusted gross income in charitable contributions is not deductible.
Does the 2026 charitable deduction for people who don't itemize cover volunteer mileage?
It covers cash gifts to qualified charities, up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for joint filers. Whether unreimbursed volunteer mileage counts toward it has not been spelled out clearly, so ask a tax professional before relying on it.
How do I know if our club is a 501(c)(3)?
Search its legal name in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, or ask the club treasurer for its determination letter. Many recreational leagues are 501(c)(3)s; many travel and elite clubs are businesses, and volunteering for a business is not deductible.
Coaching this season?
TaxMiles logs each drive in the background, so you tap Charity in the parking lot and the 14¢ is worked out for you. Free for 40 trips a month.
Get TaxMilesThis article is general education for U.S. taxpayers, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Rates and rules change; check current IRS guidance or ask a tax professional about your situation. TaxMiles, Phone Diet, RecipeScan and Trending Music are our apps. Apple and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., which doesn't endorse this article.