Question about local agency nursing

[freckles23]

I am from NJ (tax home, pay parents shared expenses) and have been traveling for year and a half. I found a location I like in WA and coming up on my 1 year. I would like to stay in this area for a few months longer (3-6 months) to make sure its somewhere id want to settle down. I am willing to forgo the stipends and take a taxed assignment but I had some questions on that.

1. If I take taxed assignment, would it be considered local, since im originally from NJ? (All my addresses and licenses from there)

2. If I rent an apartment in WA for a few months, does that change my tax home? Or tax home does not matter in this situation since I wouldnt be receiving stipends? 

3. Is there a max amount of time you can work in one location/facility being local or can you keep renewing contract? 
 

4. When would I need to notify of my change in address, licenses, registration if I stay in WA location?
 

If anyone has further information, I would truly appreciate any guidance. I have appt with my tax people this week so I will be asking them this.
 

[Nurse Alexa, MSN, RN]

A tax home is considered somewhere you have permanently lived for atleast 6 months. I am sure there is a limit to have long you can prolong your current contract, but you can still name your NJ residence a tax home if you have clear reasons why you still have to pay for this as your primary residence.

In addition, if you are over atleast 50 miles, you can still do a tax-free local assignment. However, if you wish to live closer without a stipend - the distance from the hospital should not matter to your agency. (However, different hospitals can be stricter about the distance, I have heard that some hospitals request Atleast 75 miles from the hospital to nurses residence).

Hope this helps to answer some of your questions. ? 

[NedRN]

If you work in the same general area more than one year, your tax home automatically switches to that area. Also, if you take an open ended job like a local agency, same thing. That is not a contract with a finish date. On the same theme, if you sign a contract that has a completion date beyond one year in that same general area, your tax home switches the date you sign, not the date when the one year of work is actually passed. 
 

it doesn't matter how the agency chooses to pay you, these are the rules for you from the IRS, not the agency.