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Current news
There has been lots of news about hospital strikes recently. On June 10, the largest nursing strike in history, involving 12,000 nurses, occurred in Minneapolis/St Paul for 24 hours. Perhaps saying something about patient safety and care, those 12,000 nurses were replaced by only 2,800 strike nurses. Emotions ran hot after the strike and an open ended strike was narrowly averted on July first. Travelers are understandably curious about strikes and so PanTravelers has published this comprehensive article About strikes. This article shares what it is like to work a strike, what it pays, what healthcare unions are all about, and why nurses strike. There is companion editorial about Working Strikes here. Both are available publicly without having to log in first.
- This month's column from Traveltax is printed below. Last month's column appears here. Expect the columns feature to expand with more regular contributors over the next year. Have a great idea for a column? Please submit your idea to board@pantravelers.org - and if you would like to write a short column, either regularly or once in a while (or just once), please let us know! Same with ideas for articles.
It is great to hear feedback from readers. Recently a recruiter for a large agency raved to us about our Nursing Board resource. He finds it easy to navigate with good organization of pertinent information. He uses it daily and finds it more accurate and useful than any other sources, including his own agency's resource and even the state board website! He had a good story: A traveler needed a fast license for an assignment from a state - no luck getting through to the board. An unpublished back office number listed on our Nursing Board resource got her through to a supervisor who helpfully expedited her application and had everything ready when she walked in (it was not supposed to be a walk through state). By the way, both Florida and Georgia have made significant changes in getting a nursing license by endorsement this year, potentially taking longer to get a license. California's walk through policy changed last year - more info on this page below. All three states are up to date on the Nursing Board resource.
Another PanTravelers member was canceled in the middle of her assignment in February, apparently for low census. The hospital (an HCA hospital unsurprisingly) cited some clinical reasons, but clearly the agency did not find them credible either, for they offered the traveler another assignment. When she was unable to take that assignment, they issued her an invoice for $4,407.16 for breach of the first contract! Much of it was for housing, even though they gave her only 48 hours to vacate, so she could not use the housing even if she had paid the amount demanded in the invoice. Fortunately, as a Full member, this traveler was eligible for legal assistance from PanTravelers. Our legal counsel has backed the agency down from pursuing these claims. This was a huge legal victory, overcoming very unfavorable language in the contract. For what it's worth, about one in ten contracts cancels industry wide. Sooner or later it happens to every traveler who travels long enough. So it is good advice to have a financial reserve of several months living expenses for unseen career or personal events. And having a Full membership in PanTravelers is cheap legal insurance for contract disputes.
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Joseph Smith's monthly column July 2010
Joseph Smith EA is the leading tax expert in the country for traveling healthcare professionals and agencies, and happens to be PanTravelers CFO. A former traveling respiratory therapist, he now has a thriving tax preparation and consulting business. He is also a regular contributor to Healthcare Traveler magazine and is a helpful presence on traveler forums such as Travel Nurses & Therapists. Joe maintains one of the best traveler resources at traveltax.com.
State tax agencies auditing licenses
With the current economic crisis and declining tax revenues, many states are raising taxes, stepping up enforcement or both. One enforcement method that is becoming popular is to request a list of individuals holding professional or occupational licenses from the state boards and checking for a tax return filing.
Typically, state tax agencies will become aware of any income earned in its borders through the W-2 that the employer files. However, income of travelers that may be state taxable can missed from just W-2 reporting. For example:
- Taxes may apply from out of state earnings as the residency status of the professional cannot be determined by W-2 reporting alone.
- Independent contracting (1099) income is usually reported at the Federal level, but rarely at the state level, and
- Agencies sometimes report earnings to the traveler’s home state instead of to the work state.
When a state tax office selects an individual with an active license and no return is found, the agency will send a letter to the license holder asking for a tax return or an explanation as to why a return has not been filed. If no response is given within the prescribed time, the tax office will obtain income information of the license holder from a return filed with the IRS and assess state taxes on the entire amount of income reported on the tax return as if they were a full year resident. A letter will be sent outlining this assessment and if the licensee is still silent, the assessment will be sent to collections. Many travelers are unaware of the mailings due to frequent relocation or mail forwarding blunders. The final step in this process is to revoke or suspend the professional license of the “delinquent” taxpayer when there is no response to the collections notice.
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Cartoon of the month 
California walk through changes for nursesWhile a walk through is still possible with some steps taken ahead of time, temporary licenses or renewals (for certain applicants who have not been previously fingerprinted) will not be issued until fingerprints have been taken and both federal and state background checks are complete. Under the best case scenario, the background check can take as little as three days (one week is the average) if you do the Livescan fingerprint process in California. If you initiate from out of state with standard fingerprint cards, this could add several weeks to the process. When fingerprints and background checks are complete, you can walk through the rest of the process at the board in Sacramento. This can still save time as getting a temp or renewal mailed can take up to a month. In fact, with new processes in place and because of a reduction in working hours for board staff, planning well ahead is advised. The Nursing Boards resource here is up to date and has full details.
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