ER Travel Nurse

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2015

The 30/hr you're being quoted is the taxable hourly rate and should not include the housing stipend or daily per diem amount, both of which are non-taxable and should raise your overall hourly rate and take home $ significantly. The part of California you are looking into is one of the highest paying in the country, so this being said you should definitely make more than 42/hr provided you take the housing stipend. If you take the free housing, you might break even in your current income as the only non taxable money you will get regularly is the per diem. You also get travel reimbursements, which I have not included here either, so that's more tax free money, in addition to other reimbursements you can negotiate such as uniform allowance or reimbursements for licensing. But for some, the travel experience is worth breaking even with the free housing. Most people that travel come from states where even taking the free housing is profitable for them overall, they are likely making at home half of the 42/hr you're making right now as staff.

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Guest219794 · Aug 21, 2015

The 30/hr you're being quoted is the taxable hourly rate and should not include the housing stipend or daily per diem amount, both of which are non-taxable and should raise your overall hourly rate and take home $ significantly. The part of California you are looking into is one of the highest paying in the country, so this being said you should definitely make more than 42/hr provided you take the housing stipend. If you take the free housing, you might break even in your current income as the only non taxable money you will get regularly is the per diem. You also get travel reimbursements, which I have not included here either, so that's more tax free money, in addition to other reimbursements you can negotiate such as uniform allowance or reimbursements for licensing. But for some, the travel experience is worth breaking even with the free housing. Most people that travel come from states where even taking the free housing is profitable for them overall, they are likely making at home half of the 42/hr you're making right now as staff.
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This is how it is commonly done. but, you really need to understand the math and the law.

There is no such thing as non-taxable income. Certain expenses re non-taxable, but in order for that to be legal, you need to actually spend that money. In other words, if you are reimbursed 1,000 a week for for housing weekly and spend 250, the remaining 750 is income, and you are expected to pay tax on income. By the way, as far as I know, you may actually need a "tax home" to get this reimbursement legally.

Look at it this way:

Let's say a carpenter's tools are reimbursable. Going rate for a carpenter is $30 an hour, but as an employer, I would rather not pay all that pesky payroll tax. He doesn't want to pay all that income tax. So, I'll pay him 10 an hour salary. I'll reimburse him 20 an hour for his tools. If this was legal, everybody would do it.

I worked for a travel company at a rate of around 18 an hour. With all my "non-taxables, I made the equivalent of abut 38 an hour, which was awesome. I lived close enough to home to drive. Now that 38 an hour was based on an hourly rate, plus weekly reimbursements. Once I worked over 36 hours, I continued to make my hourly wage, but obviously got no extra food/travel/housing, so my pay dropped dramatically for the next 4 hours, back to 18 an hour. If I worked overtime, I would make 27 an hour. So, for my first 3 shifts, I made 456. If I worked an overtime shift, it went down to 288.

There are also legal ramifications. You probably won't be audited- most small level tax cheats aren't. But if you are, and you try to explain to the IRS how you have tax free income (That's what banking money without paying taxes is), they may have a different take than your recruiter.

Don't take tax or legal advice from recruiters.

Don't take tax or legal advice from other nurses, even experienced travel nurses.

Don't take tax or legal advice from me- I happily took my tax free income knowing it would be unlikely I would be audited.

Do some research, consider talking to an accountant. Some semi-relevant stuff here:

FAQ Traveling Tax Issues

Anna S, RN · Aug 21, 2015

I traveled for years. Most travelers live in low wage areas, and can make more as travelers.

It's generally not worth it for nurses who live in high paying areas to travel.

When I traveled to La Jolla, CA to work, I didn't earn even near the hourly wage that the regular staff did- but my housing, etc was paid for by my agency, so I didn't have the high cost of living that the local staff did. Therefore, even though I made less than they did, I made more than I would have working in my low-wage home area.

You do need a tax home to get tax free housing stipends.

You also need a tax home in order to not have to pay taxes on any housing an agency provides for you.