I have been offered relocation through Cartus for my new job. They are providing two options for household move - self-move and get reimbursed or moving through professional services. All these will be paid by the company but both of the options are taxable. I just wanted to know which one to choose. Anybody has experience in this matter. Note : I am moving from Indiana to California with my wife.
Cartus is a hot garbage company with morons for "relocation consultants." Don't trust them to do anything. Do it all yourself and get reimbursed.
@meh dev. Care to explain. Did you have any bad experience with them ?
Two bad experiences actually. They're simply incapable of planning anything. They failed to plan movers for me by the needed date despite 4 months of notice, forgot to plan to move my car altogether, and were insanely hard to get a hold of while everything was failing. My "relocation consultant" was not helpful or apologetic at all, and instead of doing their job, I had to call the movers myself and make arrangements (including getting my own car movers that Cartus took forever to reimburse me for). Absolute nightmare dealing with those morons. Cannot say enough bad things about them.
The value of the reimbursement is often much higher and is likely the better option if you have more than a trivial amount of stuff to bring
I just have a bring a few furnitures and clothes and stuff. No cars though.
I’d try find out how much it’ll cost you to hire a mover yourself then. Good luck
Cartus is complete shit. I had to work with them through my company. I moved from Wisconsin to California. They listed me a price of $6000 / month for a temp studio apartment. Next day i found one for $700 on airbnb. They wont help you with anything. All their options for temporary stay will burn in a big hole in your relocation amount. Consultants are complete useless too. I wouldnt trust them for anything. Just take your lumpsum from them and work out your own plans
Just wanted to know how much tax difference there is if I do self move versus professional services. If the difference is not much I would rather do professional services.
What does grossed up for taxes mean ?
Hey OP! Did you go ahead with Cartus?
I did their full service move and it was a great decision, highly recommend. The consultants are a combination of idiotic and rude but just having movers pack everything made it worth it.
Do you like packing boxes, paying up front the waiting? If so, self move. Otherwise if you want to go out to lunch, come back and find everything packed and loaded and on it’s way take professional services. I’d chose professional services every time.
Any advantages on taxes on either of these options.
Not a tax expert but I’d imagine the professional one is a fixed price and therefore fixed tax. If you cheap it out yourself then there’s less tax to pay, but your spouse hates you.