I am becoming a traveling nurse and will be working in several states. I will not have a permanent home but will live out of a suitcase. Am I better to keep a mailling address in anyone state and then pay taxes accordingly. My employer provides my housing etc tax free. Currently in Wi and can rent a po box. Does this make me a Wi resident. WHAT SHOULD I DO. I WANT TO PAY MY SHARE TO THE IRS BUT ALSO Don't WANT TO GET SCREWED.

Your traveling nurse pay is still taxable by the IRS; you will NOT be screwed there, as you can claim your daily living expenses while on temporary assignments (since lodging is provided, you CANNOT claim the lodging portion of federal per diem; just measl and incidentals).

You will pay taxes to the states in which you work, probably as a non-resident.

If you can, establish residency in a state with NO income tax, like Florida, Washington, Tennessee, Texas, Alaska, or Nevada (there are two other no-tax states, but I cannot remember their names off-hand).

I just went through an audit with a client who was a welder working around the country and the IRS determined that he did not have a tax home base because he did not have duplicate living expenses when he was on the road. Meaning he did not pay rent, house payment, property taxes, utilities, etc. in the state of TX (which has no state tax) that he was claiming was his home base. He used a PO box. The IRS disallowed all of his deductions with the exception of driving from one state to another to work and meals and incidentals. Each state that he worked in, he was considered a resident, since he did not have a tax home base. They even disallowed the mileage he claimed once he got to the job site, because they considered that commuting.

Agree with the commutting disallowance.

Most of the traveling nurses I have represented usually establish a home base. Jean is somewhat unique, but I believe she should establish a home base in order to be able to deduct the temporary working expenses.