Tax Consultant

Specialties Travel

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Are there any tax consultants that are well known online that specialize specifically in travel nursing? I am looking to go to someone who knows every little IRS rule with travel nurses, including questions involving your GSA.gov max allowed amount for per diem. For example, in the city I work in now, GSA.gov says $89 per day for lodging and $51 per day for meals and incidentals. So I add these two together = $140 per day x 7 days per week = $980 per week maximum. Why do we very rarely see the maximum amount given out by larger agencies, and if I meet all tax home requirements, do I not automatically qualify for this $980 per week or no?

If anyone knows these answers FOR SURE or has a known travel nurse tax consultant, feel free to respond. I definitely expect multiple different answers on these rules since I always get multiple answers when I ask about the untaxable per diem.

Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in ICU, and IR.

The answer is yes check out traveltax.com traveltax they have people they can refer you too. Also check out pantravelers you have to be a member but its free. I have a tax consultant who has worked with many travel nurses for years, he has told me that its not the same thing as regular CPA or anything like that, you have to know the difference. He has saved me lots of money. Even writes off my vehicle depreciation and helped me figure out how to show business expenses. He isn't cheap about $700 a year to file but saves me over $3k in deductions. Next year he is going to help me write off part of my RV purchase I hope.

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Hey I will pay the money to save more in the long run. I will look into traveltax .. So your guy isn't a CPA?

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Specializes in ICU, and IR.

He is a CPA Accountant but he also has other degrees and certifications. Not sure what they all are. I should tell you though that I only started traveling in January so things will be different this coming year.

He was just saying that you need to go with someone who is familiar with travelers like he is. not your average CPA

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Yes I agree, I have definitely learned recently that you need someone specializing in travel nurses. Well if he does over the phone consultations, I would gladly check into him if you want to tell me what his name is so I can google him.

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Those GSA location maximums are simply the most a company can reimburse you without receipts without having a hassle with the IRS on their own tax returns or scrutiny of their pay practices. It is possible to exceed those maximums with receipted expenses or other data - for example, CEOs do not take the minimum hotel rooms. Those GSA numbers are not a law requiring private companies to pay that amount or any amount, in fact they do not even require government agencies to pay that amount to federal employees. The only reason that travel companies pay reimbursements is that it raises the total take home pay for their travelers, originally a competitive advantage when only one or a few agencies were doing it, but now just keeping up with the other agencies or keeping a level playing field. Most agencies do not max out the stipends as there are tax consequences to their bottom line, but some smaller agencies do just that and do enjoy a competitive advantage.

One tax trick that TravelTax does do is take the max GSA M&IE reimbursements and subtract actual received M&IE from the agency and deduct the difference on your tax return. This is of very limited value due to filing thresholds for most travelers (and it will benefit only those travelers - usually with mortgages - that itemize already) and pales in comparison with finding agencies that max out M&IE. This trick would be of more benefit for housing stipends, except that the IRS does not allow you to use the GSA housing amounts to deduct on your tax return in the absence of receipted housing costs exceeding your stipend.

In short, the GSA amounts are not an entitlement, and private employers are free to pay employees any stipend amount or none at all. Shop around and negotiate to maximize your take home pay.

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Ok, so if I find an agency that offers me maximum housing and maximum meals and incidentals, does that set me up for audit or anything. What I'm trying to say is if someone pays me like $12 hourly and maxes out the stipend, am I allowed to receive max lodging and M&I stipend without needing receipts? It sounds like you're saying it is ok to max out M&I BUT not housing. This is where my confusion keeps coming. I'm not really curious if I'm entitled to it, I'm curious if I can have it if offered. If someone offers the full amount, is that going to put me at any type of IRS risk to take it? I don't want to go over or take extra.

Just use this example .. I have $89 lodging per GSA and $51 M&I per GSA. This averages out to $140x7 = $980 per week. Can I have THE FULL $980 without any extra IRS scrutiny?

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Specializes in ICU, and IR.

This is a hard question to answer. In short yes you are looking at IRS scrutiny. But it depends on your overall difference. So for example say last year you made $57K taxable as a full time staff and this year as a traveler your taxable income was only $23K since most of your income was in tax free stipends, that difference in taxable income might cause a red flag. Most travelers try to stick to $20/hr no less then put the rest into stipends. IRs doesn't look at your contract they look at your yearly taxable income. I hope that makes sense.

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There is nothing you can do to guarantee an audit free life. Every tax return is put through automated computer analysis to check for issues. In that regard, I would not list travel nurse as your occupation but merely nurse. I doubt that will make a real difference as your employers are classified as medical staffing agencies but it cannot hurt.

Working for an agency that is about to get audited or has been audited with major payroll issues identified could get you audited. But there is zero way of knowing what agencies are under audit threat. Good chance though with perhaps 20 agencies under some level of IRS scrutiny annually. If you know the correct methods to pay travelers, you can certainly avoid agencies you know are paying you incorrectly (per diems exceeding GSA maximums for example).

Reimbursements are not taxable income by definition and not reported to the IRS directly (they appear as a line item on the agency books and not associated with your SSN). Thus receiving any amount does not increase your audit risk.

Only if audited (for some other reason) and your contract is given to the IRS by you or your agency can they become relevant, and then only if you don't have a legit tax home.

Taking part of your compensation as reimbursements can cause an annual income swing, which historically can trigger an audit, at least in the upper income ranges. At our income, it is extremely unlikely a swing from 100K to 50K would trigger an audit. Simply speaking, the IRS would prefer to spend their rather small budget on cases that result in bigger results.

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I think you guys are missing my point or I'm asking wrong, who knows. Lol I have had agencies tell me that they CAN'T give the maximum GSA allowed amount because either it looks "bad" or they just are not allowed. My simple question is, if the housing and MI stipends equal to $980 a week maximum per GSA, is it against any kind of IRS law to take this full amount and are there any special receipts/proof I need to save and keep back for this full amount? That's all I want to know. People act like the max amount of GSA is a no-no but then some agencies offer the full amount. So I'm just curious what I need as proof if I take this full amount (will a contract stating where I'm at suffice or do I need specific hotel/apartment receipts?) and what standards do I need to meet (can I drive home on the weekends to my tax home or do I actually have to live in this city every day of the week and never see my family to receive the full amount?)

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Specializes in ICU, and IR.
I think you guys are missing my point or I'm asking wrong, who knows. Lol I have had agencies tell me that they CAN'T give the maximum GSA allowed amount because either it looks "bad" or they just are not allowed. My simple question is, if the housing and MI stipends equal to $980 a week maximum per GSA, is it against any kind of IRS law to take this full amount and are there any special receipts/proof I need to save and keep back for this full amount? That's all I want to know. People act like the max amount of GSA is a no-no but then some agencies offer the full amount. So I'm just curious what I need as proof if I take this full amount (will a contract stating where I'm at suffice or do I need specific hotel/apartment receipts?) and what standards do I need to meet (can I drive home on the weekends to my tax home or do I actually have to live in this city every day of the week and never see my family to receive the full amount?)

No there is not any law (that I know of) that says you cannot take the full GSA amount, or more for that matter. Your agency might have that rule in place to protect THEM from an audit which is much more likely.

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Specializes in ICU, and IR.

Remember your agency is getting a certain bill rate, they are not gonna lose money on a contract so you can negotiate the number around to benefit both parties by using the calculator on pantravers site. adjust your hourly and stipend money around without changing the total amount. You can increase your take home this way. If the government says you can have 980/week in san diego but the hospital is only paying enough for them to give you say $780 then there is nothing you can do.

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