If you are new to contracting you may or may not know about per diem in the contractor world. When most contractors work for a contract house they work for a per diem split. A per diem split is where a contractor would work let say for 22 dollars an hour, so the split would be 16 and 6. In which 16 dollars would be the per diem and the 6 dollars would be taxable. So in a 40 hour work week you would only be taxed on 240 bucks which is not bad. And the other 640 bucks would go toward your expenses. The only catch is that you would have to live at least 50 miles from the job site.
What is per diem?
Per diem is the allowance for lodging (excluding taxes), meals and incidental expenses. The General Services Administration (GSA) establishes per diem rates for destinations within the Continental United States (CONUS). The State Department establishes the foreign rates (for example, Russia, Aruba, Bahamas, Europe, etc.). The Department of Defense (DOD) establishes non-foreign rates such as Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam. For more information on non-foreign rates, visit DOD’s Per Diem, Travel, and Transportation Allowance Committee at https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/ ; foreign rates can be found at http://www.state.gov/m/a/als/prdm/.
This chart should give you an idea of what it would cost you to stay at your next job site. So make sure that your employer gives you the max per diem for that area.
