Tax breaks for travel Nursing.

[emsboss]

Looking at returning to Travel Nursing. Been in Alaska for almost 8 yrs. My question is; Can you claim travel expenses, vehicle depreciation/maintenance for tax deductions? I plan on travelling in my truck and camper. Thanx for input.

[NedRN]

You can if you maintain a permanent residence in AK that you don't rent out and "return to regularly" in the words of the IRS. It is too much work for most people to depreciate vehicles and use actual costs for deductions, and those that do usually have a tax person do it (and pay them extra). You will also have to separate your work related use from your personal use - a difficult task with actual expenses. It is far easier to just use the IRS rate (currently 56.5 cents a mile and includes depreciation) to figure miles between home and assignment, and commute miles from assignment housing to assignment facility. You can also expense actual housing costs, and use the GSA per diem tables for a daily M&IE. From all of these numbers, you have to subtract tax-free allowances or stipends from your agency.

It is better if at all possible to take the maximum tax-free allowances and lower your taxable hourly from agencies. If you try to deduct expenses instead at the end of the year, you will run up against a number of filing thresholds and are unlikely to come out ahead.