Resources

Relocation is one of the most misunderstood line items in any offer. Employers assume a number is a number. Candidates assume the company is covering the move. The gap between those two assumptions is where deals quietly fall apart.

A $10,000 relocation package can land as roughly $6,500 once taxes take their cut. Nobody is cheating. The rules changed, and most offers never adjusted.

This guide closes the gap. It breaks down every structure an employer can use to deliver relocation, exactly how each one is taxed under current law, and how tiered repayment provisions actually work when a hire does not stick.

What’s inside:

• The six delivery structures, from lump-sum to managed RMC, and what each one signals to a candidate
• What the 2026 tax law actually says, including OBBBA and the permanent end of tax-free civilian relocation
• The real-dollar net impact, and why the offer number is not the number that lands
• Clawback and repayment tiers, plus the cross-year tax trap nobody explains at the offer stage
• The California exception under AB 692, effective January 2026
• A side-by-side comparison of all six structures

Whether you are building a mobility policy, evaluating an offer, or trying to understand what you are actually receiving, this is the straight answer.

ATS_Relocation_Guide

Most firms ask you to trust them. We give you the receipts.