Relocation Tax Best Practices
Because the tax aspect of any relocation is so important, clear and continual communication with the transferring employee is essential. A transferee should never be surprised at tax time with a large and unexpected payment due to the IRS. It is the responsibility of the transferring employee to understand the tax implications of each relocation benefit, but it is incumbent upon the employer and the Relocation Management Company (if one is involved in the process) to ensure that the tax implications of benefit usage are fully explained to the transferee verbally and in writing. Read More
To facilitate a relocation, many employers offer home selling assistance to homeowner transferees. Home sale assistance can come in various forms; however, the IRS specifically calls out the Amended Value (AV) program as the favored method in terms of compliance.
Tax gross-up is a topic that relocation professionals routinely speak about among themselves but sometimes do not discuss adequately with relocating employees. Gross-up is a complicated subject and we sometimes wrongly assumed that tax discussions should be saved for the tax professionals—particularly if the employer is providing that service.
