Travel Therapy
Prep Toolkit
Read the IRS tax home tests question by question, and track everything you need before your first travel contract.
The IRS tax home tests, one question at a time
Whether lodging and M&IE stipends stay out of taxable income is decided by the tax home rules in IRS Publication 463, not by an agency. Answer each question for your own situation, and the result sets your answers beside the IRS's tests in its own words. It is not a ruling on your return. General guidance, not tax advice. Current median weekly pay is in our Travel Therapy Pay Index.
The three factors. Publication 463: “If you satisfy all three factors, your tax home is the home where you regularly live. If you satisfy only two factors, you may have a tax home depending on all the facts and circumstances. If you satisfy only one factor, you are an itinerant; your tax home is wherever you work and you can’t deduct travel expenses.”
Temporary or indefinite. “Generally, a temporary assignment in a single location is one that is realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for 1 year or less.” And: “If your 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 you account to your employer for them.”
The stipends. Of an allowance under an accountable plan: “If your allowance is less than or equal to the federal rate, the allowance won’t be included in box 1 of your Form W-2.”
These are the IRS's tests, not a ruling on your return. A tax professional can apply IRS Publication 463 to your situation.
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Everything you need to do before, during, and after your first travel therapy contract. Check off items as you complete them — your progress saves automatically.
Last verified: against IRS Publication 463. Every quotation below is the IRS's wording.
What the IRS means by a tax home
The checker above is a rough guide, not the IRS's test. The test is in IRS Publication 463, which defines a tax home this way: “Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located.”
It matters for travel pay because allowances for lodging and for meals and incidental expenses stay out of taxable income only while you are working away from your tax home. Of an allowance under an accountable plan, the publication says: “If your allowance is less than or equal to the federal rate, the allowance won’t be included in box 1 of your Form W-2.” And it describes the federal rate: “The regular federal per diem rate is the highest amount that the federal government will pay to its employees for lodging and M&IE (or M&IE only) while they are traveling away from home in a particular area.”
The three factors
If you have no regular or main place of business, Publication 463 uses three factors to decide whether the home where you regularly live is your tax home:
- You perform part of your business in the area of your main home and use that home for lodging while doing business in the area.
- You have living expenses at your main home that you duplicate because your business requires you to be away from that home.
- You haven’t abandoned the area in which both your historical place of lodging and your claimed main home are located, you have a member or members of your family living at your main home, or you often use that home for lodging.
And how they count: “If you satisfy all three factors, your tax home is the home where you regularly live. If you satisfy only two factors, you may have a tax home depending on all the facts and circumstances. If you satisfy only one factor, you are an itinerant; your tax home is wherever you work and you can’t deduct travel expenses.”
Temporary or indefinite
Length matters too. Publication 463: “Generally, a temporary assignment in a single location is one that is realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for 1 year or less.” And: “If your 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 you account to your employer for them.”
That is the IRS's wording, quoted rather than paraphrased; a tax professional can apply it to your situation. The travel PT contracts page covers how long a contract can run, the travel therapy tax guide goes further, and the pay calculator shows what contracts in our feed pay. Is there a minimum distance from home? See what the IRS says about distance.
Tax home questions
What is a tax home?
In the words of IRS Publication 463: “Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located.”
What are the three tax home factors?
For people with no regular or main place of business, IRS Publication 463 lists them: “You perform part of your business in the area of your main home and use that home for lodging while doing business in the area.” “You have living expenses at your main home that you duplicate because your business requires you to be away from that home.” “You haven’t abandoned the area in which both your historical place of lodging and your claimed main home are located, you have a member or members of your family living at your main home, or you often use that home for lodging.”
What if I meet only one or two of the factors?
IRS Publication 463: “If you satisfy all three factors, your tax home is the home where you regularly live. If you satisfy only two factors, you may have a tax home depending on all the facts and circumstances. If you satisfy only one factor, you are an itinerant; your tax home is wherever you work and you can’t deduct travel expenses.”
How long can a travel assignment last and still be temporary?
IRS Publication 463: “Generally, a temporary assignment in a single location is one that is realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for 1 year or less.”
What happens to stipends on an indefinite assignment?
IRS Publication 463: “If your 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 you account to your employer for them.”
Is the checker's result tax advice?
No. The checker is general guidance built around these factors, and its result is not a ruling. A tax professional can apply IRS Publication 463 to your situation.
Source
- IRS, Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses: tax home, temporary and indefinite assignments, accountable plans and the federal rate (read 2026-10-10).
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