Questions for the Experienced from a Beginner Traveler

NedRN · Mar 11, 2016

1. If the PRN requirements are not onerous (like 5 shifts a year), then having a local PRN job helps nail your tax home. But it not necessary.

2. You are not required to spend some portion of your housing stipend. However if you get super picky from the IRS perspective, you need to prove some costs were incurred for housing. This is where truck drivers who sleep in their cab lose in tax court. I wouldn't worry about it. Your travel contract showing you working perhaps a thousand miles from home proves the necessity for local housing. But if you want to be really safe, get receipts. Doesn't have to be market value.

3. Sorry, no help here. A California license will prove its value though.

Trjl · Apr 2, 2016

You do not need to work back home in order to maintain your home state as your Tax Home. If need be, you just need to prove that you do live there (like paying rent), and you probably get your main mail sent there.

Whether you paid a friend $250/mth rent, or a total stranger, the IRS will not ask you who you rented from and what you paid. I know travelers who will stay with family for free on assignment while pocketing the housing stipend, and there is nothing illegal about it. The housing stipend is a part of your pay and you are entitled to it, no matter what you do with it.

I am not a NICU nurse, but I have worked at Duke in Durham, NC. They also have a Duke Hospital in Raleigh. While I didn't like the snobby attitude of the HR dept during my orientation, the staff and the hospital are wonderful. It is a great place to work. I would recommend it. It is also an affordable city. Not too crowded. You can have city living, and if you like the mountains or the beach, they are barely 2 hours away. I haven't worked in SF, but they of course have a lot of wonderful hospital to work for. I have been to SF and it is jammed packed with plenty to do, but very expensive to live. If you have friends you could stay with, all the better.

While you don't want to cheat the government, I think you do not have to worry about being audited unless something looks odd on your tax forms. I fill out my forms like I always did. You do not have to divide your pay on the form (like hourly pay, housing stipend, etc..), just report it as it comes on your W-2 form. And nowhere on the tax form does it ask for a tax home location.

Best of luck. Travel nursing can be a lot of fun.

NedRN · Apr 2, 2016

Stating you don't technically live in a place means it cannot be your tax home. That means huge trouble if you get audited for any reason as you will be assessed for back taxes, penalties, and interest on any tax free compensation you have received. I would recommend consulting ASAP with a professional in travel nurse taxes such as TravelTax. Phone consults are free and they should be able to suggest a way forward for you.

Yes, audits are rare, but the risk if audited is not worth the rewards of hoping you don't. Sometimes travelers are swept up in audits related to agencies that don't do sufficient due diligence on verifying traveler tax homes. Currently, there are around 20 agencies under some level of audit. Easy money for the IRS.

As a tip, I also would not discuss this online or in person with your peers. The IRS pays a percentage of collections to whistleblowers.

chineye · Apr 3, 2016

Here is another question I have. When looking for a permanent hospital job after doing travel nursing, does it hurt your chances of employment being that you spend a short amount of time in each facility when traveling?

Trjl · Apr 3, 2016

I can't answer for everyone, but being a Travel nurse can also help you. For one, you are not penalized for only being somewhere for 3 months. You didn't quit, you were contracted for those 3 months. And depending on how much you may have traveled before you start a permanent job, they can look at it as you have a wider range of experience. Anywhere you go, you will pick up new techniques or ways of doing things, rather than only one way. They can will look at you as a more well rounded nurse. Travel nurses are usually pretty adaptive to new situations, which can make us more marketable in a more permanent placement. I would say at least 3/4 of the Travel jobs I have had, they asked me if I would consider a permanent position with them. I want to experience travel for a while, so I would have to say no. But the point is, moving from job to job was not hurting my chances of a permanent position, as well as I assume it will not for you either.

NedRN · Apr 3, 2016

Here is another question I have. When looking for a permanent hospital job after doing travel nursing, does it hurt your chances of employment being that you spend a short amount of time in each facility when traveling?

From my perspective your question makes little sense, why on earth would you want to look for a permanent job?!!

More seriously, travel experience has the potential to be a mixed bag when looking for a staff job. No one will doubt your competence and short contracts are the nature of the work. Yes, every decent traveler has probably had multiple staff offers so if one of those hospitals is suitable for you, no problem.

In general, given a current fundamental nationwide nursing shortage (not in the South), going staff shouldn't present a problem.

You will find more skepticism about accepting a drop in net pay (although total staff compensation is often equivalent but hidden in benefits), and giving up the adventure of travel. Many managers have experienced travelers becoming staff, quickly becoming disillusioned for whatever reason (politics, boredom), and quitting to travel. There has been a lot of that lately with travelers running for the security of staff in 2008/9, and now that things are booming, returning to travel.

You have to come up with a solid back story during an employment interview depending on the job market. If you have been traveling only a year for example, pitching it as a fling before settling down is highly credible. Links to the community should be mentioned. You may need to vary your pitch if there are multiple interviews. A couple years ago, I interviewed for a per diem job. The managers had some questions about compensation, and I told them I wasn't motivated by the pay - pretty true as it paid a laughable one third of what I made as a traveler. I completely bowled them over with my perspective on this and other issues, but I also had to go through a committee of peers interview. I didn't get the job! Not caring about pay seemed demeaning to fellow workers. I didn't think that through in time. Wish I had gotten the job so I could work when home, but since the plan was to continue to travel anyway, it didn't impact me much.

chineye · Apr 4, 2016

Thank you Trjl and NedRN. I very much appreciate your input and time