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Twice a month, get clear, smart tips to help you keep more money, build wealth, and make taxes easier for 1099 CRNAs.
Welcome to Money Moves for CRNAs—the podcast created specifically for 1099 CRNAs who want clarity, confidence, and control over their money.
This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not personalized tax or financial advice.
Here’s your host, Randy Larkin, with Atlanta Tax Planner.
Hi there, this is Randy Larkin.
A 1099 CRNA can accept an assignment in the same state and later discover that housing, travel, and meal expenses may not be deductible. The issue may come down to one word: temporary.
Let’s say you normally work in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then accept an assignment in Knoxville. At first, the Knoxville assignment may be temporary. But that can change. (Pause.)
But that can change—if the contract is extended OR if everyone expected it to last much longer from the beginning.
Today, we will look at how the assignment and your contract can change the tax result.
AN EXAMPLE
Let’s say a CRNA who normally works in Chattanooga accepts a contract in Knoxville. She may need housing, have driving costs, and buy meals while she is away.
If Knoxville is only a temporary assignment away from her tax home, some of those costs may be deductible. But the deductions are not automatic. They depend on where she normally works, how long the assignment is expected to last, and what actually happens.
YOUR HOME MAY NOT BE YOUR TAX HOME
The term “tax home” can be confusing.
Your tax home is not automatically the house where you live or where your family lives. It is generally connected to your regular or main place of business.
If you work in more than one area, the IRS may look at your work time, business activity, and income in each location.
So Chattanooga may be the CRNA’s tax home. But the work facts need to support it.
WHEN TEMPORARY BECOMES INDEFINITE
Now suppose the Knoxville assignment begins as a 13-week contract. Everyone expects it to end after 13 weeks. At that point, the assignment may be temporary.
Then the contract is extended. Later, it is extended again. The CRNA and the facility may begin expecting the work to continue much longer.
At that point, the assignment may become indefinite. Knoxville may then become the CRNA’s tax home. Housing and meals there may become personal expenses. And regular travel between Chattanooga and Knoxville may become commuting.
The important date is not automatically day 366. The tax result may change when the expectation changes. That could happen when an extension is signed or when both sides expect the work to continue.
If the CRNA keeps treating those costs as business expenses, the tax return may include deductions that no longer apply.
WHAT THE CONTRACT CAN REVEAL
This is why the contract matters.
A CRNA may focus on the hourly rate, the schedule, and the housing payment. But other terms matter too.
Where will the work be performed? Does the contract have a clear ending date? Can it be extended? And what do both sides really expect?
A contract may say 13 weeks. But if everyone expects the CRNA to stay much longer, the tax result may not follow the label.
An assignment can begin as temporary and later become indefinite. The time to identify the issue is before accepting or extending the contract—not after the year is over.
THE RULES ARE NOT NEW
Courts have considered similar questions for decades in cases involving railroad workers, professional athletes, truck drivers, and other traveling workers.
The work changes. The main question does not.
Is this temporary work away from an established tax home? Or has the new location become the regular place of business?
So here is the takeaway.
Working in the same state does not always produce the same tax result. A CRNA may go from Chattanooga to Knoxville without crossing a state line. But the assignment can still affect the tax home, travel deductions, housing deductions, meal deductions, and the real after-tax value of the contract.
Before accepting or extending an out-of-area assignment, do not look only at the hourly rate.
Know where you will be working. Know how long the assignment is expected to last. Know what the contract says. And identify the tax questions before a temporary assignment becomes indefinite.
That is why we created the free 1099 CRNA Tax System Review.
Use it to spot areas where your tax system may be strong, where you may be guessing, and what may need attention before small gaps become costly surprises.
Download it through the link in the description.
Because where you live may be your home. But it may not be your tax home.
Thanks for listening to Money Moves for CRNAs.
New episodes drop twice a month.
See you soon.