Questions about maxing out Per Diem

[melosa08]

I'll be starting my first travel assignment in Dallas, TX depending on how the phone interview goes. My recruiter emailed me the following numbers base on a 40 hr work week:

Taxable hourly: $22.68 x 40 = $907.30

Weekly housing: $692.84 (about $98.98/day)

Weekly M&I: $311.78 (about $44.54/day)

Total gross: $1911.82

I showed these numbers to my traveler friend. She is a traveler of four years. She went on gsa.gov to see if they maxed out the per diem. We type in the zip code and got different numbers. From Jan-April, housing was listed as $138/day. M&I listed as $64/day. The new numbers calculated would be:

Weekly housing: $138 x 7 days = $966

Weekly M&I: $64 x 7 days =$448

Taxable hourly: $22.68 x 40 hr =$907.30

Total gross: $2321.30

I emailed my recruiter the numbers and he called me the next day. He told me that they have a certain budget to work with and can go up to the per diem max dependent on what's leftover after the hourly taxable rate is calculated. He told me in order to max out the per diem, he would have to lower the taxable hourly rate. The lowest his company would allow him to go is $22.68 to prevent the potential of being audited by the IRS.

My question to you guys is, do you always max out your per diem rates? My traveler friend told me she has never taken an assignment where she didn't max out her per diem. I'm happy with the numbers he quoted me, but if I'm suppose to get the max per diem rates, that would be even better :)

[NedRN]

One does what one can to maximize compensation. That includes shopping different agencies for best pay. Try that to expand your options. You cannot know what is possible unless you shop around.

[Bluebolt]

Like Ned said, you shop around and see what you can do.

Although I will say as an ICU nurse who just left Texas after a contract was completed the numbers he gave you are pretty competitive. Even after they tax your hourly pay you should be making over $1600 a week. A net income of $1600 a week without any OT is pretty darn high in Texas.

You might be able to do a little better, maybe, but I doubt it. If you manage to get a company to drop the hourly down a few more dollars you could put some more in your stipend but there is actually a limit to how far down you want to be hourly so the IRS doesn't get attracted.

[bigbearnurse, MSN, RN]

What agency is this? If you don't take it, I will!