Service 05Before you moveBiggest savings

Pre-Move Tax Planning: The Decisions You Can’t Undo Later.

When you leave, how you exit your state, and what you do with income and accounts in the months before departure can change your tax bill by thousands — and some of it can’t be fixed after the fact. Plan once, before you fly.

Plan Before You Fly

Who It’s For

Anyone Moving Abroad in the Next 12 Months

Career Movers

Job abroad or going remote — departure timing decides your first FEIE window, and equity vesting needs a plan.

Retiring Abroad

The pre-move year is your golden window: Roth conversions and gain harvesting before foreign residency begins.

Leaving a Sticky State

California, Virginia, South Carolina, New Mexico — the exit checklist matters most where the state fights hardest.

Families Relocating

Child Tax Credit strategy, education accounts, and both spouses’ income mapped before the boxes get packed.

What You Get

A Departure Plan Measured in Saved Thousands

Almost every expensive expat tax situation traces back to the months before the move: the departure date that broke a 330-day window, the state ties nobody cut, the Roth conversion that would have been tax-free abroad but wasn’t done, the local investment account opened innocently in week one.

This service produces a written, dated action plan for your specific move — what to do before departure, what to do on arrival, and common mistakes to avoid.

Moving to Europe? Tax is one thread of the move. Our sister service Quantum Jetset handles the relocation side — destinations, visas, healthcare, and timelines — while we plan the tax side of the same journey. Together, nothing falls between the two.

What the service includes

Departure timing analysis — your FEIE qualification window (physical presence vs. bona fide residence) modeled around real dates.
State exit plan — the complete cut-ties checklist for your state, with the paper trail an audit would want to see.
Golden-window moves — Roth conversions, gain harvesting, and account restructuring explained for the pre-residency months.
Income structuring review — salary, self-employment, equity vesting, and rentals in your split year.
Destination tax briefing — your new country’s treaty, totalization agreement, and the local traps (PFICs, wealth taxes, special regimes).
First-year filing map — exactly which returns and reports your split year will need, in both countries.

The Process

Ideally 3–6 Months Before Departure

Step 1

Situation & Destination

Free Tax Check covering where you’re going, when, with what income and assets.

Step 2

Modeling

Departure dates, state exit, and golden-window moves modeled — with professional input on the specialist points.

Step 3

Your Action Plan

A written, dated checklist: before departure, on arrival, first tax season. Walked through together.

Step 4

Execute & Land

We stay available through the move, and your first-year filing is scoped and matched before deadlines loom.

Pricing

The Best Money-to-Savings Ratio We Offer

Fixed fee, quoted upfront

A flat fee agreed in writing, scaled to complexity (single salary vs. family with equity and property). One well-timed Roth conversion or a cleanly broken state residency routinely repays it many times over. Credited toward first-year preparation if you continue with our matching service.

Common Questions

Before You Book

How early should I start?

Three to six months before departure is ideal — enough time to act on the plan (conversions, account changes, state steps). Leaving in three weeks? Book anyway: some moves are still available, and knowing which is half the value.

I haven’t picked a country yet. Too early?

Not at all — tax treatment differs enough between, say, Portugal, Spain, and Italy to influence the choice. We can brief the shortlist; our sister service Quantum Jetset compares the destinations on everything else.

Does this include the actual filings?

The plan covers strategy and the filing map; preparation of the actual returns is quoted separately (fixed) via our matching service, with this fee credited. Many clients bundle both.

Can you coordinate with my financial adviser?

Yes — happily. Golden-window investment moves land best when your adviser, the tax professional, and the calendar all agree. We’ll join the call.

Ready?

The Cheapest Tax Planning Happens Before the Flight

Tell us where you’re headed and when — the free Tax Check will show what’s worth planning.