Re: Move Offer
 

It’s a great point to get the value of the relocation package grossed up to account for taxation, because it’s taxable no matter how the expenses are paid, whether directly by the company bypassing the employee, or to the employee as expenses, reimbursement, compensation, whatever it’s called. If relocating with the current employer it may be possible to have those expenses paid prior to departing for the US through the UK office then it wont appear as taxable income on the W2..

Re: Move Offer
 

:confused: But it'll be taxable in the UK for the same reason - its a taxable benefit in kind. Some things are tax deductible in both countries, as a business expense, like the cost of the airline tickets, but paying for housing, a car, etc., are going to be taxable no matter when and where the expense is booked.

Re: Move Offer
 

Think you can get up to £8,000 relocation tax free in the UK for qualifying expenses which covers most of the big ones. Whether that covers a move out of the country I do not know, but something for the OP to research if it could be beneficial.

Re: Move Offer
 

I think you can get tax relief of £8,000 on expense reimbursement to move to take up a job in the UK, but I may be wrong. :unsure:

Re: Move Offer
 

I had a couple of UK companies contacting me in the past month or two about US based roles.

I've not looked at the general cost of living increases in recent years but I was totally surprised at how much costs have risen in general!

The last time I worked in the USA, I was on roughly $250K back in 2014.

They seem to be offering rates of $165K to $185K these days with what looks like a 100% increase in costs!

On LinkedIn I see NY rates for suitable jobs advertised at $135K!

It's absolutely mind boggling and so far removed, from the country I moved to, way back in 2001, when everything was so affordable.

My neighbour was offered a job in Florida and was really quite keen to make the move over. I said I would sit down with him and figure out how much he would need to earn to stand still, this was possibly around 10 years back. It came to $75K just to stand still!
He was like, "come on, it can't be that much that to live there?" I explained that back in 2001, I used to get $45K per diem, per annum, as a single guy and that he had a wife and 3 kids, the allowances have definitely not kept up with the cost of living increases, even back in 2014.

Re: Move Offer
 

some of that is inflation increasing the cost of groceries, electricity and to a lesser extent gas(petrol), but some is more structural. If I was to refinance my primary US residence today my monthly cost would double. If I was to buy it today at “market price” my monthly payment wound be 2.5-3x what I am currently paying… so comparing costs for someone arriving today who would need to rent or buy at todays rents/price/rates vs. people who brought at a different part of the cycle can help explain why when you calculate the cost of living as a new arrival today would be extremely high.

Re: Move Offer
 

I guess many Western nations are experiencing greatly increased costs but the US levels were astonishing.

One of my English pals, that's been a US resident for many years, commented that it's like paying Swiss prices for third world service these days.

The house (my ex's) that my 2 US kids live in is now 3 times the value that it cost back in 2004, when it was built.

Re: Move Offer
 

I can never work out where this idea that gas is a significant part of inflation today, or indeed any part of inflation came from, other than it is an idiotic talking point of the MAGA Republicans.

Today gas is about 20% cheaper in dollar terms than it was 14-16 years ago,* and about 50% cheaper adjusting for inflation. I am paying less today for high octane gas than I was for regular unleaded back then!

* That might not be true in some states that have very high gasoline taxes.

Re: Move Offer
 

I think it’s just people who lived here when it was sub $1 a gallon looking back to the past…

having lived in UK, NZ, EU etc I have always thought gas is cheap here in the US….

Re: Move Offer
 

Thats true going even further back. When I was on HS in mid sixties gas was around 32 cents per gallon and minimum wage was 1.25. Not a lot different from today when you run the numbers. Another point back then 15-18mpg was considered an economy car.

Re: Move Offer
 

There's quite a lot of research on this - why do people care so much about gas prices when other things have much higher impact on their cost of living. It basically boils down to it being a universally comparable number that people are used to noticing (i.e. when driving around you'll check the displayed prices so you can save a few cents on each tank) - that give sit a special place in people's minds.

Re: Move Offer
 

I somewhat agree, having pumped gas, briefly, and slightly, at under $1/gal, in 1999 IIRC, but it's more that people seem to have completely forgotten about the run up in gas prices between 2006 and 2008, reaching about $4/gal, and IIRC prices stayed at that level for the next 2-3 years. $4/gal in 2008 would be around $6/gal today (and I think both past and current prices are different in California and a few other states).
Agreed, I have long argued that the fact that the price appears frequently along side every urban and suburban road, and every major intersection means that it dominates peoples' perceptions.

Personally, I realized that even at $4/gal, gas is only a tiny part of our household budget, even though as a family we are driving about 2,000 miles/ mth, and that no matter how many gas station signs I pass, a 10c, or 20c price increase has a truly negligible impact on our budget.

All that said, I do feel for those drivers I see at the gas station with their beat-up Civic or old Buick, going to the desk with a $10 bill to prepay, because that's all they can afford. .... And I see people prepaying with cash most of the time when I go to buy gas.