Take time to evaluate your expatriate tax program

Expat tax filing is part of that monstrous, pesky goal of keeping your global mobility program clean and compliant. Mobility programs that do this effectively usually have a well-oiled collaborative process with their expatriate tax partners, their relocation management company (RMC) and their own internal stakeholders like payroll, AP and internal tax. Your global compensation accumulation process can make for a cleaner and more streamlined ability to prepare those filings, and there might be room for cost savings in your current process. For more related to this process, take a minute and watch: "Global Compensation Accumulation - What Is It?"

In the below, Raj Azad from Global Tax Network (GTN) provides some great insights and advice for mobility programs in his post on "Post-Tax Season Checklist." He shares that you might want to:

• Do a post-tax busy season review meeting with your tax provider (and we would add with your RMC)
• Draft next year's authorization list, at least begin by keeping an active list
• Identify delinquent taxpayers and follow-up with them
• Identify taxpayers who may need long-term extensions
• Review and adjust compensation reporting
• Review your accrual process
• Review the balance due payment process
• Track tax reimbursement collections
• Create a process for foreign tax credits

Like any checklist, you might be pleasantly surprised that you can check most, if not all, of the boxes, but then again, what if you are not? Head out and download that checklist and consider where you are at!

Other resources to consider when evaluating your current treatment on expatriate taxes:

• IRS - Taxpayers Living Abroad
• ECA - What are tax equalisation and tax protection
• Mercer - The Role of Human Resources in Expatriate Tax Matters
• GTN - Taxation of US Expatriates  Guidebook
• GTN - monthly newsletters