Complicated Tax Situation

Specialties Travel

Published

To begin, my husband and I plan on talking to a tax specialist before we start traveling. I just want to get some insight into our situation if anyone is knowledgeable or has had a similar situation. We have lived and worked in the same city for the past 2 years. We plan to start traveling around mid-April. My husband will be keeping his current job in the city we live in now, working remotely, and plans to return quarterly to work in the office for ~a week each return trip. I will probably return in between assignments but will not be working in that city. Is it feasible for us, filing jointly, to maintain our tax home in our current city (especially considering we've already been here for the past 2 years)? From what I've read, it sounds like my husband would have a legitimate tax home as long as we were paying rent in our current city, and the IRS can't force us to file separately.

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Nothing complicated here at all! Just maintain that primary residence.

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That primary residence is a $1600/month apartment so that's not really cost feasible. He has family members here who we could pay rent to but will that get us into trouble in an audit situation or will it be enough to have documented fair market rent?

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It is not really too credible that a married couple would be living with parents after living alone. Why not buy a house? Solid tax home, good savings plan, potential for appreciation, and a place to live when home. Like adults!

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Specializes in Psych.

Honestly I would recommend talking to a tax professional. My situation was also complicated for a variety of reasons.

In my case I decided to talk to a tax professional before we embarked on my travel nurse adventures who specifically works with traveling professionals. I contacted Travel Tax and received a free consultation. Daina spoke with me for a good 30 minutes and we went over all the major details of what my husband & I planned to do. The guidance was invaluable. And they will definitely be the ones to handle our taxes from now on.

You can get all the opinions you want from a forum, but really the only way to be confident about such important decisions is to contact a specialized tax professional.

Good luck :)

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Good advice!

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