About TravelNurseTax

TravelNurseTax is a free set of tax calculators built for the specific financial reality of travel nursing — not for the W-2 employee in a single state that every generic tax tool assumes you are.

Travel nurses earn income in a way that most calculators handle badly: a split package of taxable wages and tax-free stipends, assignments across multiple states each year, and eligibility rules tied to whether the IRS recognizes your home as a legitimate “tax home.” Getting any of those pieces wrong can mean paying thousands more in taxes than you owe — or discovering after an audit that your stipends were never tax-free at all.

These tools were built to close that gap. Every calculation accounts for the mechanics that matter to travel nurses: the taxable/stipend split, state reciprocity agreements, GSA per diem limits, the self-employment tax difference between W2 and 1099 contracts, and the three-factor IRS test for tax home validity.

What's here

Accuracy and limits

All calculations use 2025–2026 IRS federal tax brackets, current FICA rates, FY2026 GSA per diem tables, and simplified flat state income tax rates. They are designed to give you an accurate estimate for planning — not a tax return. State tax law changes frequently, reciprocity agreements can be modified, and individual situations vary in ways no calculator can fully capture.

These tools are not a substitute for a qualified tax professional. If your contract is large, your tax home is unclear, or you are filing in three or more states, working with a travel nurse–specialist CPA will pay for itself quickly.