When you work for trustaff® Travel Nurses as a travel nurse or health professional, you make your
living away from many of your family and friends. You have two residences to maintain
when you travel - the one you call your "home away from home" where you
rest your head after a long shift at the hospital and the one you call your "home"
where you live when you're not on the road. The IRS calls your "home"
your tax home or permanent tax residence.
You know that it can get very costly to maintain two homes while traveling and earning
a living; the IRS recognized this dilemma with many people and set up a national
plan to assist traveling professionals. The government researched and developed
an extensive listing of daily travel reimbursement rates that estimate the average
food and housing costs for US cities and metropolitan areas. With our Tax Advantage
Plan, we blend these tax-free rates into your final pay package to increase your
weekly "take home" pay.
How do I qualify for the tax advantage plan?
To participate in the tax advantage plan, you must meet some simple qualifications
established by the government:
- You must have a permanent tax residence or tax home - a residence
where you usually live and pay taxes. Without a tax home, the IRS would consider
you an "itinerant worker" for tax purposes and therefore, ineligible to
deduct travel living expenses.
- Your permanent tax residence must be different from and a certain distance
from the location of your travel assignment. You must live in your temporary housing
location during your travel assignment; working near your tax home and returning
there from shifts would disqualify you for the plan.
- Your travel assignment must be less than one year in length. You may have multiple
travel assignments and extensions, but each original assignment must be less than
a year.
- You must complete and keep on file with trustaff the
Permanent Tax Residence Notification form to declare the above information for
your personnel record.
You should direct any tax questions or requests for information on your specific
situation to your personal tax advisor. You may find more information about tax
guidelines for travel healthcare professionals at websites for the IRS or Kobaly, the
Travel Nurse Tax Specialist.
Call now to speak with your recruiter about specific
pay plan arrangements with different pay rates and hourly guarantees for your assignments.