Travel Nursing Tax Advantage Plan Tax Advantage programs allow you to receive a tax free reimbursements to cover meals & incidentals and lodging expenses or to receive tax free Health Force supplied housing. To participate in the Tax Advantage Program you need to maintain a residence as a renter or owner in your permanent resident location and state with associated expenses and be working away from this residence on a temporary assignment living in a separate temporary residence. This permanent residence is called a Permanent Tax Home as defined by the IRS. You should have connections to this address such as: Drivers License, Insurances, Professional License, Voters Registration, Property Taxes and other various bills connected to the Permanent Tax Home. It is advisable to return there between assignments if possible, apply for jobs there, do business there, even work there if possible. Generally if you reside in another state or same state, different location, for more than a year you can lose your Permanent Tax Home status. Keep documentation of these activities to keep the information organized and easily at hand if you needed it. Health Force will  just have you fill out a form verifying you Permanent Tax Home.  Health Force  will give you a tax free reimbursement per day that you are on an assignment staying in temporary housing away from your Permanent Tax Home (Meals & Incidentals and Lodging or Company supplied Tax Free Housing). This per day reimbursement is different where ever you go. The Federal Government has a web site, Domestic Per Diem Rates - US General Services Administration that supplies this information. The rates on this website are in reality reimbursements figured for government employees traveling to, staying in hotels and/or eating in other cities for work purposes. The costs a Traveler will incur on a daily basis may not be as much depending on various factors generally because the Traveler is usually staying at least 3 months and buying groceries mostly instead of eating out for every meal. That could be different if you are on a short term contract such as a Strike. Some Travel Nurse Agencies may not use the max rate all the time unless it reflects more in reality the true costs. This Tax Free Reimbursement is separate from your Pay Rate which IS taxed. Some Travel Nurse Companies that are new to this get confused and think the reimbursement is per day that you work but that is wrong. It is per day that you are on assignment residing in that area in temporary housing away from your Permanent Tax Home. There is no 50 or 80 mile radius rule with the IRS. Those rules are more so rules with Travel Nursing Companies and/or Hospitals to set some standard for being away from home or to prevent perm or potential perm staff in the area from converting to Travelers (Hospital Rule). Travel Nursing Agencies if they are supplying temporary housing will only use the the meals and incidentals max rate to figure the tax free reimbursement although you will not be taxed for your housing supplied. If you are receiving a housing stipend instead of Health Force supplying the housing, the Health Force will use both the per day Lodging Rate and the per day Meal & Incidentals rate to calculate your total tax free reimbursements depending on how those rates reflect true costs for you in that area. Below are some examples of how some companies figure Tax Advantage reimbursements. Housing supplied: Government site reports a per day rate for Meals & Incidentals of $25/day for a certain locale. They are saying the maximum you would spend per day for Meals & Incidentals is $25 $25/day X 7 days = $175/week $25 X 30 = $750/ month (Tax Free Reimbursements) Alot of Travel Nursing Companies will also figure it into a virtual pay rate to see the actual value that you get in terms of $'s/hour. Let's say you work 36 hours/week with a pay rate of $28/hour and you get $475/week in tax free reimbursements (Meals & Incidentals + Housing Stipend for this example) $475/week divided by 36 hours/week worked = $13.19/hr Virtual pay rate $28/hr Actual Pay Rate + $13.19/hr Virtual pay rate = $38.19/hr (Actual pay rate + Virtual pay rate) This is only a way to for you to see total value. Your pay check stub or contract should avoid the above language because tax free reimbursements are not pay rates. If you are supplied housing by the Travel Nurse Company you could still convert it to a virtual pay rate if you know the housing costs + meals and incidentals reimbursement. If you were Not a Tax Advantage Traveler you would have to pay taxes on your supplied housing or housing stipend and you could not receive Meals & Incidental Tax Free Reimbursements either. If you are NOT offered the Tax Advantage Program but you DO maintain a Permanent Tax Home you can deduct expenses that are above what is covered by the Travel Nursing Agency at the end of the year so keep a record of these expenses and keep receipts. Even as a Tax Advantage Traveler you need to keep track of reasonable expenses above what is covered by the Travel Nursing Company such as Medical Expenses, Travel Costs, Mileage to location, Mileage to and from Facility from Temporary Housing times number of trips. When you deduct these things the dollar amount that ends up in your tax return is not as much as you would get receiving the Tax Advantage tax free reimbursements. That is why people are are attracted to Tax Advantage Programs.