Re: Move Offer
 

You never know where the next bump is coming from -- my electricity bill went up $100 this month! No, I didn't suddenly start using vast amounts of power; there were a few minor increases in supply, transmission, and delivery costs, but the big bounce came from a "public benefits charge" which is apparently mandatory and was almost $55!

Re: Move Offer
 

That sounds like what the power utility is allowed to charge customers in general to recover bad debts of people on low income who cannot afford to pay their bill and who are at risk of being disconnected.

Re: Move Offer
 

Correct, and it soared this month--the utility's phones were apparently ringing off the hook! This is what it states on my co.'s site: This portion includes costs mandated by the state and federal government for financial assistance and energy efficiency programs, purchasing renewable and carbon-free electricity, and funding solar and electric vehicle incentives to help make it easier to take advantage of clean energy options.

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If schools are in your future, I would recommend searching out good school areas. You would need to be in the catchment area for any children to get in to them. Ay least that's what happens in our area.

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AFAIK all US states run their schools on a strict "catchment area" basis, with only a few exceptions allowed. "Charter schools" (quasi-independent, direct-funded schools, paid for by the state, not the county in which they are located) are one such exception and are often extremely popular where they are allowed, leading to lotteries to decide which new children to admit. The motivation for founding charter schools often seems to be to allow savvy parents to opt their children out of county-controlled schools (which are often under-funded and poorly run) without needing to pay for private education.

Re: Move Offer
 

Make sure that the cost of anything in the relocation package that’s considered taxable income is “grossed up” so that your employer effectively pays the tax on it. Otherwise you’ll have a nice tax liability on some of it (e.g. the three months of rent etc).

Re: Move Offer
 

Well you'll have the tax liability anyway, but you can only spend about 2/3 of the value (or a bit more if there is no state income tax), the other third you hold back to pay the state and federal income taxes.

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We are lucky in my area of Tennessee, possibly due to TVA power. Our total electric bill is almost never at $100. The past two very hot months $95 and $97 totals.

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Certainly possible in the employer gives the transferee a big pot of money for the relocation. But if the employer pays directly for something (again, e.g. three months rent) then they don't have that option. Eitheer way, tax liability is something the OP should be well aware of. To me a gross up to avoid any tax liability is one of the most important aspects of a relocation package.

Re: Move Offer
 

Ah, I mistakenly thought you were originally talking about the employer giving the transferee money to pay for things, not just picking up the tab. :o

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.

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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.

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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:

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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.