Short answer. Your tax home is a defined term in IRS Publication 463, and it drives how stipends and travel costs are treated. Keep a log for each assignment (dates, expected length, location), a record of what you keep paying at your main home, and every state you worked in. Your preparer applies the rules; this guide does not decide them.
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Assignment length check
Publication 463: an assignment realistically expected to last more than one year is indefinite, even if it ends sooner. Use the end date you expected when the assignment (or an extension) began. Nothing you type is sent or saved.
1. What Publication 463 calls a tax home
IRS Publication 463 (2025) says your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, and it includes the entire city or general area where that work is, no matter where you keep your family home. Many travel nurses do not have one regular place of business, so the publication's next rule matters more.
If you have no regular or main place of business
Publication 463 lists three factors to look at:
- You do part of your business in the area of your main home and use that home for lodging while doing business there.
- You have living expenses at your main home that you duplicate because your business requires you to be away from that home.
- You have not abandoned the area where both your historical place of lodging and your claimed main home are located, a family member lives at your main home, or you often use that home for lodging.
If all three apply, the publication says your tax home is the home where you regularly live. If two apply, you may or may not have a tax home, depending on the facts. If only one applies, you are an itinerant (a transient), your tax home is wherever you work, and you cannot claim a travel expense deduction. Each factor is something you can document, which is why the log matters.
2. Temporary or indefinite: the one-year rule
Publication 463 says an assignment in a single location is temporary if it is realistically expected to last, and does last, one year or less. It is indefinite if it is realistically expected to last more than one year, whether or not it actually does. You decide which it is when you start the work, and an indefinite location becomes your new tax home. Extensions matter: write down the date an extension was offered and the new expected end date.
A 13-week contract
A contract starting January 5, 2026 and expected to end April 4, 2026 runs 89 days; the one-year mark is 2027-01-05. The tool below does this date math. It shows the length you expected, not a conclusion about your tax home.
3. Stipends, allowances and duplicate expenses
Publication 463 says that if an assignment is indefinite, you must include in your income any amounts you receive from your employer for living expenses, even if they are called travel allowances and even if you account for them to your employer. It also says the standard meal allowance is the federal M&IE rate, and that current and prior per diem rates are on the U.S. General Services Administration website.
How a stipend is treated on a temporary assignment depends on your tax home and on how your employer's plan works, which Publication 463 covers in its chapter on reimbursements. We do not summarize that part here; give your preparer the contract and pay stubs and let them apply it. For employee travel costs that are not reimbursed, Publication 463 says these can no longer be claimed as a miscellaneous itemized deduction because of a suspension that applies to tax years beginning after 2017, and it names Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists and fee-basis state or local government officials as employees who can still deduct them as an adjustment to income.
What to record for each month: rent or mortgage and utilities at your main home (the "duplicate" side of factor 2), lodging and meals at the assignment, travel between the two, the stipend amounts on each pay stub, and the days you actually spent at your main home. Publication 463 says to keep records that prove the time, place and business purpose of travel, in a log, diary, notebook or other written record. See Business travel records for overnight trips for what to keep from each trip.
4. Working in more than one state
Each state sets its own rules for nonresidents, part-year residents and credits, so we do not generalize. Use the IRS list of state government websites to reach each state's tax agency, and keep a list of every state you worked in with the dates and the wages each W-2 shows for it.
For New Jersey, the Division of Taxation says:
- A part-year resident may need to file Form NJ-1040NR if they continued to receive income from New Jersey sources after moving out.
- A part-year resident files the resident return, NJ-1040, for the part of the year they lived in New Jersey when gross income from everywhere for the full year is more than $10,000 (single or married filing separately) or $20,000 (joint, head of household or qualifying surviving partner).
- Residents who paid income tax both to New Jersey and to an out-of-state jurisdiction in the same year may be eligible for a credit, claimed on Schedule NJ-COJ (Publication GIT-3W covers wage income).
If you live in New Jersey and take a New York City assignment, see NJ resident working in New York City.
5. Licenses and certifications
The New Jersey Board of Nursing says New Jersey is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). NCSBN reports that New Jersey completed implementation on November 15, 2021. According to the Board, nurses with an active, unencumbered multistate license from another compact state have a privilege to practice in New Jersey, and New Jersey issues a multistate license to applicants who meet the requirements (others may get a single-state license). You have to apply for it; holding a New Jersey license does not make it multistate on its own.
For any other state, check that state's board of nursing; do not assume. Track each license and certification in one place: issuing body, number, type (single-state or multistate), expiration date, renewal requirements as the issuing body states them, and the date you renewed. Facilities ask for the same documents again and again, so keep copies together.
6. If you are paid on a 1099
Some per diem work is paid as an independent contractor. Then self-employment tax applies (the IRS rate is 15.3%), and you may need quarterly estimated payments if you expect to owe $1,000 or more. The Quarterly estimated tax calculator gives a planning number, and How to prepare records for your tax preparer shows how to hand over a clean file.
Official sources
- IRS Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
- IRS: State government websites (each state's tax agency)
- NJ Division of Taxation: Part-year residents (updated Sept. 28, 2026)
- NJ Division of Taxation: GIT-3W, Credit for Income Taxes Paid to Other Jurisdictions (Wage Income) (January 2026)
- NJ Board of Nursing (Division of Consumer Affairs): Nurse Licensure
- NCSBN: New Jersey implements the Nurse Licensure Compact (Nov. 15, 2021)
- IRS: Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes) (updated Oct. 30, 2026)
- IRS: Estimated taxes (updated Sept. 25, 2026)
Checked November 2026.
Common questions
What is a tax home for a travel nurse?
IRS Publication 463 says your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty. If you have none, it lists three factors about your main home; with all three, your tax home is where you regularly live, and with only one you are treated as an itinerant whose tax home is wherever you work.
What happens if an assignment is expected to last more than a year?
Publication 463 calls an assignment realistically expected to last more than one year indefinite, even if it ends sooner. That location becomes your new tax home, and living-expense amounts from your employer go into income.
Are my housing and meal stipends taxable?
It depends on your tax home and your employer's plan, which Publication 463 covers in its chapter on reimbursements. This guide does not decide it; give your preparer your contracts, pay stubs and your tax-home records.
Is New Jersey in the Nurse Licensure Compact?
Yes. The New Jersey Board of Nursing says New Jersey is a member, and NCSBN reports full implementation on November 15, 2021. You must apply for a New Jersey multistate license; it is not automatic.
Do I file a return in every state I work in?
Each state sets its own rules, so check each state's tax agency, which the IRS state government websites page lists. New Jersey's part-year and credit rules are summarized above with links.
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