Return to Part 1  How often should I return home to maintain my tax home? *Disclaimer: I am not a tax professional. A general rule of thumb is 30 days.  Meaning that for 30 days out of the year you should document yourself being near your tax home.  Again, this is not a set number of days by the IRS, but it is a good rule of thumb to make sure you are in the clear in case of an audit. You don’t want to be put in jeopardy of losing out on your tax free stipends by not maintaining your tax home. Why Do I Need to Return Home…

*Disclaimer: I am not a tax professional. I get this question quite frequently so I decided it’s finally time to shed some light onto the sometimes confusing topic of maintaining a tax home with traveling healthcare. This is actually one of the more important things to understand with traveling healthcare, because if you make a mistake and do not have or maintain your tax home the consequences can be financially dire. The Financial Consequences of not Maintaining a Tax Home First off, if you don’t have or you don’t maintain a tax home, you are ineligible for the tax free lodging, travel, and food stipends which is the primary source of…

Most new travelers, and many seasoned travelers will tell you about the “50 mile” rule in regards to this question.  This is the rule stating that in order to qualify for your tax free stipends, the IRS requires that your assignment needs to be 50 miles away from your tax home.  However, this is actually false. The IRS considers you to be traveling away from home if “your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home substantially longer than an ordinary day’s work” AND “you need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.” These are loose terms…

My fourth Assignment! I can’t believe I was already on assignment number four! But let’s back track a bit. As you recall, I was out in Boston, MA exploring the East coast all summer long prior to starting this assignment.  During this time in Boston, my step dad was diagnosed with an advanced/aggressive cancer that metastasized to his brain. I knew I needed to finish my current assignment, but I also knew that I needed to get home as soon as possible.  This was not in my plan and I expected to continue to travel the United States but this became my priority. I finished my assignment on a Friday, slept, and…

The stresses of traveling healthcare can be a lot to manage sometimes, but for me, one of the hardest things I have had to learn to overcome with traveling is the loneliness of it. As a traveler, you uproot your entire life, you leave your friends and family, you move across the country, and you start a new job in a new location with new coworkers and patients.  It’s A LOT. But understanding how normal it is and having some ideas on how to combat it can make the entire transition much more manageable. I do think there are people out there who have free spirits and are perfectly happy and content…