Expat Tax & Relocation
Expat Tax & Relocation Comparison
How to compare expat tax products: the capabilities we check against each vendor’s own documentation, and the products verified so far.
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What we compare
No expat tax product is verified yet. These are the capabilities each one will be checked against, in the vendor’s own documentation.
Capabilities in the comparison
Day and location tracking
Records where assignees and travelers work each day for tax tests.
Tax equalization
Calculates hypothetical tax and year-end equalization settlements.
Shadow payroll support
Supplies or runs host-country shadow payroll for assignees.
Gross-up calculation
Grosses up relocation and assignment benefits for tax.
Assignee compensation collection
Collects pay, allowances, expenses and equity income by country.
Assignment cost projections
Estimates total tax and benefit cost before an assignment starts.
Social security coverage tracking
Tracks certificates of coverage and their expiry.
Withholding exemption tracking
Records employee withholding exemption statements such as Form 673.
Advisor collaboration
Shares assignee data and documents securely with tax advisors.
Secure document vault
Stores tax documents with access controls and audit logs.
How to choose expat tax & relocation software
Choose on how well the tool connects four things: where people are, what they are paid, what the tax policy promises them, and what the advisors and payroll teams need to file. Gaps between those steps are where cost and penalties appear.
Bring a real assignment to the demo and ask the vendor to show the day count, tax cost estimate, equalization calculation and shadow payroll output for it.
Day counting and location tracking
Residence, exclusions and host-country liability often depend on days in each country, such as the IRS physical presence test of 330 full days in 12 consecutive months.
Tax equalization and hypothetical tax
Equalization policies promise assignees they pay no more or less than at home, which needs a hypothetical tax calculation and a year-end settlement.
Shadow payroll support
When an assignee stays on home payroll but owes host-country tax, a shadow payroll reports and withholds there.
Gross-up calculations
Relocation and assignment benefits are generally taxable, so gross-ups decide who bears the tax.
Assignee compensation and benefits data
Allowances, housing, home leave, bonuses and equity all affect tax in more than one country.
Social security coverage tracking
Totalization agreements avoid double social security taxation, and an exemption requires a certificate of coverage.
Requirements by company size
Small businesses
- Simple day tracking for people working abroad
- Gross-up calculation for relocation payments
- Easy data sharing with a tax advisor
Watch out for
- Platforms built for large assignment programs
- Advisor services bundled at high fixed fees
- Employees working from abroad that nobody tracks
Mid-sized companies
- Tax equalization with hypothetical tax and settlements
- Shadow payroll data feeds
- Assignment cost projections
Watch out for
- Compensation data collected by hand from several systems
- Settlements delayed by missing data
- Tools tied to one advisor firm
Enterprises
- Many policies, countries and assignment types
- Integration with payroll, expenses, equity and travel systems
- Audit trail and secure document handling
Watch out for
- Equity income across countries handled outside the tool
- Business traveler tracking left out of scope
- Long integration projects across payroll providers
Red flags
- Day counts rely only on annual employee self-reporting
- Equalization settlements are calculated outside the system
- No record of which benefits were grossed up and why
- The tool works only with one advisor firm
- No tracking of certificates of coverage
How we research
Ranked by the LeadChange Score, computed only from verified facts: capability coverage (30%), pricing and value (20%), integrations and API (15%), security (15%), fit and support (10%) and data confidence (10%), times a category fit. Products with too few verified facts are not scored yet and come last. Payment never changes a score or a position.
Facts, not impressions
Every input is a fact verified against vendors’ official documentation, with the date we last checked it.
Missing data is never assumed
Unverified items are left out of the score and lower its coverage; below 60% coverage a product is not scored yet.
Independent of revenue
Rankings never depend on whether a vendor pays us.
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