Global Mobility / Expat Tax
Service description
Global mobility tax manages the U.S. and foreign tax consequences of employees who live or work across borders — expatriates on assignment, remote employees working from another country, or foreign nationals assigned to the U.S. It covers home- and host-country filings, the foreign earned income exclusion — $132,900 for 2026 — and foreign tax credit that reduce double taxation for the employee, and, where the employer offers it, a tax equalization policy that keeps the employee's after-tax pay close to what they'd have received at home.
Common industries
Any employer, in any industry, with employees working outside their home country on assignment or remotely.
ROI
Handled well, it keeps mobile employees compliant in both countries and controls the employer's assignment cost; employer-sponsored and recurring.
Benefit
Manage the tax side of employees working across borders — home/host filings, equalization, and assignment policy.
Why get it
An employee working abroad is often taxable in both the home and host country at once, and without coordination between the two filings, either the employee ends up double-taxed or the employer ends up under-withholding in one country or the other.
When you benefit
Recurring for as long as the assignment lasts, with a filing each year in each country involved, plus a final reconciliation when the assignment ends.
What it costs
Usually a per-employee, per-year fee, scaled to the number of countries and filings involved for that employee.
When you pay
Commonly billed per employee per tax year, due once each year's filings are complete, with a separate true-up fee at the end of a tax-equalized assignment once actual liabilities are known.
Other costs
Foreign-country tax preparation and filing fees are typically separate from the U.S. return, as is any hypothetical-tax calculation a tax equalization policy requires.
Risks to know
An employee can end up taxed twice on the same income if the foreign tax credit or the foreign earned income exclusion isn't claimed correctly, or if the two countries' tax years and residency rules don't line up. A tax equalization policy that isn't administered consistently — a hypothetical tax that's miscalculated, or a true-up that's skipped — creates a compensation dispute on top of the tax exposure.
When risks arise
Double-taxation risk is present every filing season the assignment continues, since each country's deadline and tax year can fall differently. A tax equalization miscalculation is often not caught until the year-end true-up, by which point the employer may owe the employee a correction or have already over- or under-withheld for months.
The process
The preparer determines each employee's tax residency and filing obligations in the home and host country, calculates the foreign earned income exclusion or foreign tax credit that applies, and prepares both countries' returns. If the employer runs a tax equalization policy, the preparer calculates the hypothetical tax withheld from pay and reconciles it against actual liability at year-end. The employer and employee both review the results before filing.
Your commitment
The employer shares the assignment details — home and host country, assignment length, and compensation structure — along with its tax equalization policy, if it has one. The employee shares income earned in each country and any foreign tax already paid or withheld, so the credit and exclusion can be calculated correctly.
Documents to gather
- Assignment letter or agreement, including home and host country and assignment length
- Employer's tax equalization or tax protection policy, if any
- Records of income earned and tax paid or withheld in each country
- Prior-year home- and host-country tax returns, if any
Helpful reading
- Tax Planning Insights for Foreign Work Assignments — The Tax Adviser
- How to Manage the Cost of Expatriate Assignments — CFO.com
Further research
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