What a tax home is for travel nurses
Your stipends are non-taxable only if you have a tax home and are paying to live away from it while on assignment. For travelers without one main place of work, the IRS treats your regular home as your tax home when you meet its three-factor test. If you do not have one, you are treated as itinerant and stipends are taxable income.
Reviewed October 14, 2026
The IRS three-factor test
IRS Publication 463 uses three factors to decide whether your regular home is your tax home when you have no single main place of business:
- You do part of your work near your main home and live there while you do.
- You pay living expenses at your main home that you duplicate while you are away on assignment.
- You have not left the area where your main home is, or a family member lives there, or you use the home often.
How the factors add up
Meet all three and your main home is your tax home. Meet two and the IRS looks at all the facts and circumstances. Meet one or none and you are considered itinerant: your tax home is wherever you work, so you are never "away from home" and stipends are taxable.
Paying real costs at home matters most. Rent or a mortgage you keep paying while you travel is the clearest evidence. Living with family rent-free and paying nothing usually is not enough.
The one-year rule
An assignment in one area that is realistically expected to last more than a year is treated as indefinite. Once that happens, the area becomes your tax home and stipends there become taxable. Extensions count. Many agencies apply a stricter policy, such as no more than 12 months in the same area within 24 months.
The 50-mile rule
The IRS does not set a mileage number. The 50-mile rule many travelers hear about comes from agency and facility policies that decide who counts as a local hire. Distance helps show that you are away from home overnight, but it does not create or replace a tax home.
Records worth keeping
- Lease or mortgage statements and utility bills for your home
- Driver's license, voter registration and vehicle registration at that address
- Evidence you return between contracts, such as travel receipts
- Your contracts, showing each assignment's location and dates
Quick answers
Are travel nurse stipends taxable?
They are non-taxable when you maintain a tax home and are duplicating living expenses while away on assignment. Without a tax home they are taxable income.
Is there an IRS 50-mile rule for travel nurses?
No. The IRS sets no mileage minimum. The 50-mile rule is an agency or facility policy for deciding who is a local hire.
How long can a travel nurse stay in one place?
Under IRS rules, an assignment expected to last more than a year in one area is indefinite, and stipends there become taxable. Many agencies also limit time in one area, for example 12 months within 24.
This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Tax home rules depend on your circumstances. A tax professional who works with travel clinicians can tell you how they apply to you.