Travel Nurse Tax Information and Benefits

As a travel nurse you will need to pay attention to the details of the tax code. Taking certain extra measures when it comes to the way you account for your time and your resources will become a tax benefit to you come filing time.

Travel benefits are available for a traveling nurse as long as the tax rules are met to afford for nontaxable compensation. Travel nurses must have a permanent tax home, not work within commuting distance from their tax home, and not have their travel nursing assignment extend beyond one year. By following these three tax rules, the travel nurse can enjoy tax-free meal per diem, and housing and mileage benefits.

Tax Home Representation forms must be filled out and it is always a good idea to seek the advice of an independent tax advisor in order to determine the circumstances pertaining to the individual travel nurse.

Reimbursement for travel nursing expenses is often handled by the medical staffing agency. Policies and procedures vary from agency to agency. The most important thing any travel nurse must do is to keep a record, recipts, mileage, and pay attention to the details. In doing so, expenses for their traveling medical career will be a write-off.

Income tax is often collected for the state in which the travel nursing takes place instead of the state of residence. Worksite state taxes may not apply if the income does not meet the minimum level for taxation. This becomes another benefit to the travel nurse.

One tax rule that is not altogether clear, but can vary based on the situation is that of the one-year limitation for temporary travel nursing assignments. A break from a worksite for three weeks is considered too little to start the one-year time limit over again, however a break of seven months has been considered adequate. The IRS has not provided a standard in between those two extremes. Sixteen weeks has proven to be sufficient in some cases.

Travel nurses enjoy supplemental pay such as completion and extension bonuses. These are subject to federal taxes and are taxed at the supplemental rate of 25%.

Travel nurses enjoy many benefits from the medical career they have chosen and yet there can be a little more work involved in the financial aspect. Travel nurses may experience a more complex year-end filing due to working in multiple states outside of their home state. You may choose to use reasonbly priced tax software if you are a tax savvy do-it-yourselfer. Otherwise, arrange for a tax professional to prepare these travel nursing returns on your behalf.

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