Published Dec 16, 2014
michlynn, BSN, RN
175 Posts
Has anyone ever traveled without a tax home? I currently do not own a home or rent anywhere and was wondering if it was even worth it to travel not being able to get your stipend tax free. Anyone have advice or been in this situation and still traveled?
NedRN
1 Article; 5,782 Posts
Having a tax home is worth about $10,000 a year of real money (take home). However travel nurses typically make between $80,000 and $100,000 a year so I think you will be able to live comfortably.
There is an article on PanTravelers about working as an itinerant. Obviously, if it costs more than $10,000 a year to maintain a tax home, you are better off being itinerant.
Take into account how long you will travel and the joy of having an escape hole to crash at between assignments. Think about establishing a tax home in a state like SD or TX with no state income tax that is also a compact state. You can buy a viable home in SD for $20,000 and pay it off in two years of tax savings!
I forgot to put in the above post that itinerant simple means "without a home", and specifically no "tax home" in IRS lingo in this context.
I suppose I need to do more research, I currently live in PA and am not able to apply for a compact license. I would like to start traveling soon, maybe only for a year or 2. I mean I technically have a home to come back to it's just not one I myself pay taxes on.
Any other advice please?
I'm not sure of what kind of further advice you are looking for. I do recommend looking up what a tax home is on either IRS directly, or articles on PanTravelers and TravelTax. A tax home in this context is not a "taxed home". You may have the wrong idea here.