Top 5 tax-time complaints from nurses—answered!

Tax prep is about as fun as getting a physical or renewing a driver’s license. Sorting through a year’s worth of receipts and paperwork can be confusing and leave you with the nagging feeling that you’ve missed out on meaty refund dollars or paid more than required.


Here are five insightful tax deduction tips from experts and fellow nurses that may reduce your tax pinch and ease your future filing events.


1. What do I keep and what can I toss?


2. Am I eligible for a travel deduction?


3. Why should I itemize?


4. Can I get a deduction for my education?


5. Why does this have to be SO HARD?


What to keep –>


1. What the heck do I keep and what do I toss?


With taxes, “when in doubt, throw it out” loses to “unsure today, file it away.” Keeping receipts is key to end year results. “We keep everything tax-related” is the solution for Brenda Wilson, RN. You may not know until filing time which ways of filing best benefit you. Plus, you can’t predict what other “tax events” could occur during the year that may later change how you file your return.


Who gets travel deductions –>

 

2. Why does that nurse get travel deductions?


“My wife’s a nurse…uniforms and equipment are no question, but we debate over the cell phone expenses,” remarks Tony Montcalm, member of the Administration team at Tanner Health System. The deductions for which you may qualify are unique to your professional role and to your filing status. Travel nurse expenses, contract employment or required continuing education create very different tax landscapes than the school nurse interviewed in Montana with one W-2 and no professional expenses. Even if you don’t itemize deductions, some expenses may qualify for “unreimbursed employee expenses” (known in tax jargon as “2106s”). Tax forms are the only thing about filing that’s one size fits all. To discover what will work for you, spend some time at irs.gov. Check out IRS publications 529 and 463. Also search the “individual” and “small business” tabs from the IRS home page. You can learn and share at the tax blog: taxreturnsfornurses.wordpress.com. Put your specialty or designation into a search engine to find discover insights matching your role. You’ll find places with specific tax resources, like rnnetwork.com/travel_nursing/resources.


Is itemizing worth it? –>

 

3. Why try to itemize if I never get past the base percentage?


You incur professional expenses year-round that may or may not benefit you, depending on your use of the Standard Deduction. “My expenses never get past the base percentage, so I never use them,” says Angie Esparza, CMA. Is this you, too? If you’re new to nursing, you may be surprised to find how much you actually spend to maintain your profession. Tip: If your expenses do not result in itemized deductions, the data may still help with the family budget or negotiating a raise.