Cross-border planning

Cross-border financial planning for expats and international professionals

Moving to the United States, leaving it, or living with one foot in each country changes almost every financial decision you make. Mercer Street is a Houston-based, hourly, fee-only firm led by Ryan Firth, CPA/PFS, CFP® and Global Financial Planner Fellow. We handle the U.S. side of the picture and coordinate with the advisers you have in the other country.

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Who we work with

Cross-border planning is not one situation. These are five common ones.

  • Arriving in the U.S. Professionals on an H-1B, L-1, O-1 or E-2 visa, and new green card holders. The questions are about when U.S. tax residency starts, what to do with accounts and property back home, and how to set up U.S. retirement and investment accounts without creating problems later.
  • Staying long term. Green card holders approaching the eight-year mark, and families deciding whether to apply for citizenship. The long-term resident rules change what leaving would later cost, so this is the moment to decide with the numbers in front of you.
  • Leaving the U.S. Americans moving abroad, and green card holders returning home. We work through the exit tax, the timing of the move, what happens to 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth accounts, 529 plans and U.S. property, and the state residency questions that follow.
  • Americans living abroad. The foreign earned income exclusion ($132,900 per person for 2026) versus the foreign tax credit, passive foreign investment company (PFIC) problems with local funds, foreign pensions, and how to invest when U.S. brokerages don't want a foreign address.
  • Dual citizens and families with assets in two countries. Dual citizens, mixed-nationality couples, inheritances from abroad, foreign trusts and property. Dual citizens are taxed by the U.S. wherever they live, so gifts to a non-citizen spouse, estate exposure in two systems and reporting on foreign accounts all need a plan.

Questions we help answer

  • Am I a U.S. tax resident this year, and which country gets to tax what?
  • Should I keep my home-country investments, superannuation or pension, or move them?
  • Should I fund a 401(k), Roth IRA or 529 if I might leave the U.S. in a few years?
  • What would the exit tax cost me, and when does the clock start?
  • How do I invest in the U.S. without triggering problems in the other country, and vice versa?
  • What happens to my equity compensation earned in one country and vesting in another?
  • How should my estate plan work with assets and heirs in two countries?
  • Which accounts have to be reported, and what did my preparer miss?

The U.S.–Australia cross-border financial planning guide walks through most of these in detail, and much of it applies to other countries. If you are relocating within the U.S., Texas residency planning covers the state side.

What we do, and what we don't

We do U.S. federal and state tax planning: residency, treaty positions, timing of income and departure, and multi-year projections. We do financial planning: cash flow, retirement accounts in both countries, education funding, insurance needs and estate coordination. We do analyze the returns your preparer files and tell you what we would change.

We don't prepare U.S. or foreign tax returns, FBARs or Form 8938. We don't give tax or legal advice under another country's law. We don't manage investments for a percentage of assets, and in some countries licensing rules limit whether we can give investment advice at all. In those cases we coordinate with a licensed adviser where you live and keep the U.S. tax and planning work.

This division is deliberate. Cross-border mistakes tend to come from advice that only sees one side. Our job is to see the whole picture and make sure each piece is handled by someone qualified to handle it.

Why U.S.–Australia is our deepest specialty

Ryan is a Global Financial Planner Fellow and a member of the Global Financial Planning Institute, and his case study on cross-border planning for an Australia-bound expatriate couple was published in The Tax Adviser, the AICPA's tax journal. Superannuation, Australian property, franking credits, the U.S.–Australia treaty and the "stay or go" decision are the questions this work most often turns on. The case study below shows what one of those engagements looked like and what it cost.

That depth transfers. The U.S. side of a situation tied to any other country uses the same residency rules, the same reporting regime and the same discipline about which country taxes what.

How an engagement works

  1. Fit meeting (free, 20 minutes). You describe your situation and we tell you which parts we can take on, which parts need an adviser where you live, and roughly how many hours the work will take.
  2. Engagement letter. Scope, an estimated range of hours and the documents we need: recent U.S. and foreign returns, account statements, visa or residency history, and any equity compensation agreements.
  3. Working sessions. We build the analysis together by video. You see the tax projection and the trade-offs as they take shape, and you can stop when you have your answer.
  4. Recommendations and coordination. You leave with recommendations you can share with your preparer, your attorney and your adviser abroad, and we talk to them directly when that is faster.

What it costs

All work is $600 per hour with a 2-hour minimum, and the fit meeting is free. There are no asset minimums, no subscription and no commissions. The services and fees page explains how fees work and lists typical hours for the common starting points; cross-border engagements vary more than most, so the engagement letter estimate is the number to rely on.

Case study · International professional

Four years in, deciding whether to stay

An Australian couple, both PhDs, four years into life in the U.S. on green cards and torn about going home, needed to know what giving up their green cards would cost before the eight-year covered expatriate clock ran out.

Who
Australian couple in their early forties, both PhDs, living in the northeastern U.S. for about four years as permanent residents, with two teenage sons
Kept abroad
A former home in Australia, rented out, worth about US$1 million
The question
What an exit tax would look like if they gave up their green cards after becoming long-term residents, and whether U.S. tax-advantaged accounts still make sense if they might leave
Read the case study →

Cross-border questions

Do you work with clients who live outside the United States?

Yes. The planning and U.S. tax analysis is done by video, and we work across time zones. One caveat applies to investment advice: depending on where you live, local licensing rules may limit whether we can advise on your investments. If you live in Australia, for example, we coordinate with a licensed adviser there. We tell you at the fit meeting which parts of the engagement we can take on.

Do you work with non-U.S. citizens living in the United States?

Yes. Our cross-border clients are split about evenly between dual citizens and people here on a green card or visa. For green card and visa holders, the questions are usually about when U.S. tax residency starts, what to do with accounts and property back home, whether to fund U.S. retirement accounts if you might leave, and what the long-term resident rules would mean if you did.

Do you prepare expat tax returns or FBARs?

No. We don't prepare U.S. or foreign tax returns, FBARs or Form 8938. We do the planning that determines what those filings will show, and we analyze the returns your preparer files for planning opportunities and anything that was missed. If you need a preparer who handles international returns, we can refer you.

Can you advise on Australian, U.K. or other foreign tax?

We advise on U.S. federal and state tax and on how the other country's system interacts with it, including treaties and totalization agreements. We don't give tax or legal advice under another country's law. For that, we coordinate with your accountant or adviser in that country, and we can often suggest one if you don't have one.

What is the U.S. exit tax, and does it apply to me?

The exit tax applies to U.S. citizens who renounce and to long-term residents (green card holders for any part of 8 of the last 15 years) who give up their status, if they are "covered expatriates." For 2026, you are covered if your net worth is $2 million or more, your average annual U.S. income tax over the prior five years exceeded $211,000, or you can't certify five years of tax compliance. Covered expatriates are treated as having sold everything the day before they leave, with a $910,000 exclusion on the gain in 2026. For clients planning to leave, much of the work is about timing and structuring so this rule either doesn't apply or costs less.

Why U.S.–Australia in particular?

It is where we have the deepest experience. Ryan published a case study in The Tax Adviser on cross-border planning for an Australia-bound expatriate couple, wrote the U.S.–Australia cross-border planning guide on this site, and has worked with Australian families deciding whether to stay in the U.S. or return. Superannuation, Australian property, franking credits and the treaty are familiar ground. We also work with clients tied to other countries; the U.S. side of the analysis follows the same discipline.

What does cross-border planning cost?

All work is $600 per hour with a 2-hour minimum, and the 20-minute fit meeting is free. You receive an engagement letter with the scope and an estimated range of hours before any work starts. There is no asset-based fee, no subscription and no commission. A single decision, such as whether to keep a foreign pension or how to time a departure, is a few hours; a full stay-or-go analysis with a multi-year tax projection takes longer, and the estimate says so up front.

Cross-border guides

Get the U.S. side of your move right before you make it

Planning, tax and investment advice is $600 per hour with a 2-hour minimum, and the 20-minute fit meeting is free. No asset minimums or commissions.

Schedule a consultationSee services and fees