The bill amends section 170(i) of the Internal Revenue Code to treat use of an automobile for delivering meals to homebound individuals who are elderly, disabled, frail, or at risk as eligible for the Internal Revenue Service’s standard business mileage rate. In short: volunteers who drive to deliver qualifying meals would compute their deductible mileage using the business mileage rate set by the IRS for the taxable year in which the driving occurs.
This change narrows a targeted tax preference to a specific charitable activity while aligning its tax treatment with business travel. It directly affects volunteer-driven meal programs and their volunteers, and it raises practical questions for nonprofits, tax preparers, and the IRS about documentation, eligibility definitions, and the fiscal cost of the change.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill adds language to IRC section 170(i) so that automobile use for delivering meals to homebound elderly, disabled, frail, or at-risk individuals is measured at the IRS standard business mileage rate for the taxable year. The amendment becomes effective for miles driven on or after enactment.
Who It Affects
Individual volunteers who drive to deliver meals, nonprofit meal-delivery programs that rely on volunteers, tax preparers who claim these deductions, and the IRS in administering and enforcing the change. State and local programs that coordinate volunteer deliveries will also see operational impacts.
Why It Matters
By moving this activity to the business mileage rate, the bill increases the per-mile tax value available to volunteers and could change volunteer recruitment, reimbursement practices, and nonprofit budgeting. It also creates a targeted tax expenditure whose cost and administration will fall to the federal tax system.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The DELIVER Act inserts a narrowly targeted rule into the charitable-deduction rules of the Internal Revenue Code. It does not create a new credit or program; rather, it changes how a specific kind of charitable mileage is calculated.
When a taxpayer uses an automobile to deliver meals to qualifying homebound recipients, that mileage is to be measured using the IRS’s standard business mileage rate for the taxable year in which the miles were driven.
Because the statute points to the IRS-published business rate, the deduction will automatically track whatever annual per-mile rate the IRS sets for business travel in a given taxable year. The bill does not itself set a numerical rate, nor does it change other rules for substantiation, whether the taxpayer itemizes, or interactions with employer or nonprofit reimbursements; those interactions will be resolved through existing tax rules and any necessary IRS guidance.Practically, volunteers and the nonprofits that organize meal delivery will need to understand how the change affects volunteer incentives and accounting.
Organizations may alter whether and how they reimburse drivers, and volunteers will need to reconcile any organizational reimbursements with the availability of a deductible mileage amount. The IRS will be the agency that publishes the applicable rate each year and — likely through guidance — will need to clarify qualifying recipients, acceptable documentation, and how reimbursements from charities or employers affect a volunteer’s ability to claim a deduction.Finally, because the effective date applies only to miles driven on or after enactment, the change is strictly prospective.
That makes advance operational planning possible, but it does not address retroactive claims or transition mechanics for ongoing programs.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill amends subsection (i) of section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code to add a special rule for charitable mileage tied to meal delivery.
The targeted activity is explicitly limited to automobile use for delivery of meals to homebound individuals who are "elderly, disabled, frail, or at risk.", For qualifying miles, the mileage rate used is the Internal Revenue Service’s standard business mileage rate for the taxable year in which the miles are driven (the bill points to the IRS-published business rate rather than a fixed cents-per-mile number).
The amendment applies only to miles driven on or after the date of enactment — the change is prospective.
The statutory text confines the change to a single charitable activity (meal delivery by automobile) rather than broadening charitable mileage rules to other volunteer activities.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title—DELIVER Act of 2025
This is the formal naming provision that identifies the bill as the "Delivering Elderly Lunches and Increasing Volunteer Engagement and Reimbursements Act of 2025." It has no substantive tax effect but signals the bill’s policy focus on volunteer-driven meal delivery and frames legislative intent around volunteer engagement and reimbursements.
Amendment to IRC §170(i) — mileage rule for meal delivery
This is the operative change. It inserts statutory language specifying that, when an automobile is used for delivery of meals to homebound individuals in the enumerated categories, the taxpayer uses the IRS’s standard business mileage rate for that taxable year. Mechanically, the provision points taxpayers and preparers to the IRS-published business rate rather than a separate charitable mileage rate; that choice delegates the numerical rate-setting to IRS annual guidance and keeps the statute agnostic on the precise per-mile figure.
Effective date — prospective application
The amendment applies to miles driven on or after enactment, so it does not affect prior tax years. The prospective date reduces questions about retroactive claims but means taxpayers and nonprofits will need to update recordkeeping, reimbursement policies, and public guidance before the first affected miles are driven after enactment.
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Explore Finance in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Volunteer drivers delivering qualifying meals — they can compute deductible mileage using the IRS business rate, increasing the value of their tax deduction per mile for eligible drives.
- Nonprofit meal-delivery programs that rely on volunteers — potentially easier volunteer recruitment and retention if volunteers face higher effective reimbursement through tax deductions, which can reduce the need for paid drivers or direct reimbursements.
- Rural and low-density community programs — these programs often depend on volunteer mileage; improving the tax value of driving may be particularly meaningful where trips are longer and out-of-pocket costs are higher.
- Tax preparers and software vendors — increased demand for guidance and changes in return preparation related to applying the business mileage rate for a new class of charitable mileage.
- Recipients of meal programs — indirectly benefit from improved service availability if the change boosts volunteer capacity.
Who Bears the Cost
- The federal government (taxpayers) — the change creates a targeted tax expenditure that will reduce federal revenue to the extent volunteers claim higher deductions.
- The IRS — the agency will need to issue guidance, respond to compliance questions, and potentially audit claims tied to qualifying recipients and miles, increasing administrative workload.
- Nonprofits and program administrators — they may face new verification and recordkeeping responsibilities to support volunteers’ claims and to reconcile organizational reimbursements with individual deductions.
- Taxpayers who cannot itemize — the benefit accrues only to those who can and do itemize deductions, creating an uneven distribution of the subsidy and raising equity concerns for low-income volunteers who do not itemize.
- State and local agencies coordinating meal programs — they may need to adjust program rules, outreach, and training for volunteers to align with the federal change.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is straightforward: boost volunteer incentives by increasing the per-mile tax value for a targeted charitable activity, or avoid creating a new, administratively complex tax expenditure that benefits mainly itemizers and may invite abuse. The bill favors stronger volunteer incentives and simpler statutory language (by tying the rate to the IRS business rate) but transfers the hard choices about definitions, documentation, and interaction with reimbursements to the IRS and to practitioners.
The bill is narrowly drafted but leaves significant implementation questions unresolved. It does not define key terms — for example, who counts as "homebound," what documentation proves that a recipient is "at risk," or whether a nonprofit’s certification is required.
Those definitional gaps will matter for enforcement and for volunteers attempting to substantiate a deduction.
The statute also does not address how organizational reimbursements interact with the deduction. Existing tax rules generally disallow a deduction for expenses that are offset by an employer or charity reimbursement; the bill’s silence means taxpayers and practitioners will rely on current doctrines and IRS guidance to determine when a volunteer can claim the business-rate mileage.
That creates a practical risk of double benefit or inadvertent disallowance unless the IRS provides clear rules. Finally, because the relief accrues only to those who itemize, the policy may disproportionately help higher-income volunteers and do less to aid low-income drivers, raising distributional questions that the statute does not resolve.
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