What is a tax home declaration form, and what are you signing?

A tax home declaration is a form from your staffing agency that asks you to state where your tax home is, because housing and meal stipends stay tax-free only while you travel away from a tax home. Before you sign, check your answer against the IRS rules in Publication 463, its three factors for the home where you regularly live, and keep the records that back that answer up.

By ProTherapy Staffing, published November 11, 2026.

Why does an agency ask you to declare a tax home?

Because the tax-free part of your pay depends on it. IRS Publication 463 defines travel expenses as “the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business, profession, or job”, and you are away from home only if “Your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home (defined later) substantially longer than an ordinary day’s work”. No tax home, no travel away from it.

The agency pays stipends under an expense arrangement that has its own rules. The regulation on those arrangements, 26 CFR 1.62-2, says one meets its business-connection test “if it provides advances , allowances (including per diem allowances, allowances only for meals and incidental expenses, and mileage allowances), or reimbursements only for business expenses” that are deductible. Your declaration is how the agency records that your stipends are for business travel.

What does the IRS count as your tax home?

Usually where you work, not where you live. Publication 463 says: “Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home.” A traveler moves from one post to the next, so the publication’s next sentence is the one that matters: “If you don’t have a regular or a main place of business because of the nature of your work, then your tax home may be the place where you regularly live.”

If there is no such place, the publication is blunt: “If you don’t have a regular or main place of business or post of duty and there is no place where you regularly live, you are considered an itinerant (a transient) and your tax home is wherever you work.” A declaration that names a home you no longer keep does not change that.

Which three factors does your answer rest on?

Publication 463 uses three factors to decide whether the place you regularly live is your tax home:

Then the scoring: “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.” Read the form’s questions against these before you answer them.

If you want to know how an offer's stipends are set up before you sign anything, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.

What if an assignment runs long?

Then the assignment city can become your tax home. Publication 463 treats work away from home as temporary if it is “realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for 1 year or less”. Past that, the rule turns: “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.”

So a declaration signed at the start of one contract is not the whole story. Extensions in the same place count toward that limit, and tax home or no tax home sets out what changes when a stipend becomes taxable.

What should you have ready before you sign?

The records behind each factor. Keep the lease or mortgage and the bills for the home you are declaring, which show the living expenses you duplicate while away, and a record of when you stay there between contracts. The tax home checklist lists the documents in one place.

Keep travel records as well. Publication 463 reminds employees paid under an accountable plan: “You must adequately account to your employer for these expenses within a reasonable period of time.” Even with a per diem allowance, it adds, “you must still keep records to prove the time, place, and business purpose of your travel.” Your timesheets and contract do most of that work.

What if your situation changes after you sign?

Tell your agency in writing. If you give up the home you declared, move your family, or take a long run of contracts in one city, your answer to the three factors may change, and the stipends paid after that point may need to be treated as taxable pay.

A tax professional who works with travelers can read your facts against the publication; finding a CPA covers what to ask one. Keep a copy of every declaration you sign with the dates it covered, because it is part of the record of where your tax home was.

Frequently asked questions

What is a tax home declaration form?

It is a form from your staffing agency asking you to state where your tax home is, because stipends stay tax-free only while you travel away from a tax home under the IRS rules in Publication 463.

What makes my home my tax home if I travel for work?

Publication 463 uses three factors: you work part of the time in the area and lodge at that home, you duplicate living expenses there while away, and you have not abandoned the area. All three make it your tax home; only one makes you an itinerant.

Can a long assignment change my tax home?

Yes. Work in one place is temporary under Publication 463 only if it is realistically expected to last, and does last, for 1 year or less; past that, living-expense payments must be included in income.

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