Checklist
Relocation checklist.
The steps before, during and after your departure, in the right order. From taking stock twelve months ahead to the obligations that remain after the move.
As of 17 September 2026 · Global Capital Strategy
This list is for entrepreneurs from Germany, Austria and Switzerland who are moving their residence abroad or will work location-independently and want to make the change cleanly. It assumes that you run a business, hold shareholdings or property, and have a tax adviser who will go through the points with you.
You decide for yourself where you live, work and pay tax. This list shows how to make the change. For the company there are two proven routes: the US LLC, our core product, for location-independent entrepreneurs without a fixed residence or resident in a country without income tax, or a company in your new country of residence, formed after the move and run from there. The list arranges the steps in five phases and says for each point what to do and why. What tax arises and which country fits follows from your figures and the assessment of the professionals you appoint. The focus is on German law. For Austria and Switzerland, the list marks the points where you should have the equivalent rules checked.
01 · 12 months before
Take stock and set the course.
A year before the move, it is about facts: what you own, what the departure triggers and where you are going.
- Prepare an inventoryList every shareholding of 1% or more in a corporation, all property, ongoing contracts, accounts, securities portfolios and insurance policies, with value and country. This list shows you which points in the following phases apply to you at all.
- Appoint professionals in both countriesAppoint a tax adviser in your home country and a professional in the destination country, meaning a tax adviser or lawyer licensed there. Both should see the same inventory and know of each other, because the legal and tax assessment rests with them and GCS coordinates.
- Have the exit tax assessedIf you hold at least 1% in a corporation and were subject to unlimited tax liability for at least seven of the last twelve years, exit tax covers the gain in value of your shares (section 6 AStG). Have the value, payment options and alternatives calculated, and you plan with firm figures. Without such shares, this point does not apply. Guide to exit taxation
- Choose the destination and its residence ruleEvery country has its own conditions for tax residence, meaning the point from which it treats you as a resident taxpayer. The 60-day rule in Cyprus, for example, requires you to meet and document every statutory condition. Decide which rule you intend to satisfy and plan your home and days of presence accordingly. Residence programmes compared
- Plan the place of managementIf you run a company, decide where you will take decisions from after the move. If you decide from your new home or location-independently, the company is run from there too (section 10 AO). Guide to place of management
- Leaving Austria: check the equivalent rulesAustria has its own rules on departure, shareholdings and tax liability afterwards, and they do not mirror the German ones one to one. Have an Austrian professional translate the points on this list to your case.
- Leaving Switzerland: check the equivalent rulesSwitzerland taxes at federal, cantonal and municipal level, and departure and shareholdings follow their own rules. Have someone check which points on this list apply in your canton and which do not.
02 · 6 months before
Prepare the new home, wind down the old one.
Six months ahead decides whether you can later evidence the departure: home, family, insurance, bank.
- Secure a home in the destination countryRent or buy a home that matches your centre of life, and keep the contract, handover report and utility statements. These documents later evidence your tax residence, meaning that you belong to the new country for tax purposes. Glossary: tax residence
- Plan for family and schoolIf your spouse or school-age children stay in Germany, your centre of life usually stays there too, regardless of where you are registered. Plan the change of school and the family’s move for the same date. Glossary: domicile
- Sort out health insuranceCheck whether your current health cover applies in the destination country, when it ends and what you need to take out there. For entrepreneurs, the family’s cover often depends on it as well.
- Prepare your banking documentsBanks in the destination country ask where your money comes from, what you earn and what the account is for. Assemble the documents now, because the review often takes weeks. Guide to banking documents
- Give up or let your German homeA home you can still use at will usually counts as a domicile and keeps unlimited tax liability alive, meaning German tax on your entire worldwide income (section 8 AO). Terminate the lease or let the home permanently to third parties, and keep no set of keys. Guide: deregistration is not enough
- Collect your notice periodsLease, electricity, internet, mobile phone, insurance, memberships: enter every deadline in a calendar and give notice for the moving date. Some contracts end early only with proof of departure.
03 · 3 months before
File applications, prepare notifications.
Now the procedures with deadlines begin: residence permit, tax number, notifications, powers of attorney.
- Submit applications in the destination countryResidence permit, tax number, social security and enrolment in the tax regime you have chosen, meaning the destination country’s special tax model, follow their own deadlines. Authorities decide on the applications, and GCS makes sure they are complete and coherent. Residence programmes
- Prepare notifications under section 138 AOIf you found or acquire a business or a shareholding abroad, that may be notifiable to the tax office (section 138(2) AO). Clarify with your tax adviser whether and when you have to file the notification. Glossary: reporting duty section 138 AO
- Put your accounts in orderOpen the account in the destination country, decide which German accounts remain, and give the banks your new address. Banks report their customers’ tax residence, and the details should match reality.
- Grant powers of attorneyFor mail, authorities, your tax adviser and ongoing contracts, someone in Germany needs a power of attorney, notarised where required. That saves you a trip back for a single signature.
- Have documents apostilledBirth and marriage certificates, criminal record extracts, commercial register extracts and articles of association are often accepted abroad only with an apostille, the official stamp that certifies a document for use abroad, and a certified translation. Apply for both while you are still in the country.
- Fix the moving dateYour domicile and habitual abode in Germany, meaning your home and your regular presence there, end on a specific day. Until that day you are subject to unlimited tax liability in Germany, meaning tax on your entire worldwide income. Fix the date and align contracts, deregistration and arrival in the destination country with it.
04 · In the moving month
Deregister, move, document.
In the moving month, what counts is that every step can be traced later.
- Deregister with the residents’ registration officeDeregister as moving abroad and keep the confirmation. Deregistration is mandatory, but on its own it does not end tax liability: what matters is whether home and centre of life have actually moved. Glossary: deregistration
- Document the moveRemoval invoice, flight tickets, handover report of the old home, move-in at the new one: collect evidence that shows when you left. The tax office may ask years later.
- Update contracts and addressesBanks, insurers, custodians, the commercial register, articles of association and customers all receive the new address. A German address in contracts later reads as a pointer to a German domicile.
- Deal with your vehicleSell the vehicle, or export it and register it in the destination country. A car registered in Germany that you continue to use does not fit a relocated centre of life.
- Redirect your mailSet up mail forwarding and name a person who opens and forwards official letters. Deadlines from the tax office and courts run even if you have not read the letter.
- Register in the destination countryRegister with the municipality, the tax authority and social security, and start logging your days of presence. Registration is the starting point for the tax residence certificate, the official confirmation that you are tax resident in the destination country. Glossary: tax residence
05 · After the move
What remains after departure.
A few tasks remain after the move. With a calendar they are quickly done.
- Apply for a tax residence certificateAs soon as you are registered for tax in the destination country, apply there for the tax residence certificate, the official confirmation of your tax residence. It is the basis for claiming relief under a double tax treaty, the tax agreement between the two countries. Glossary: tax residence certificate
- File your last German tax returnFor the year of departure you still file a tax return in Germany. It covers income up to the departure and German-source income afterwards, and German property or shareholdings can require a return in later years as well. Guide to double tax treaties
- Keep extended limited tax liability in viewGerman nationals can remain taxable on certain German income for up to ten years if the destination country taxes at a low level and substantial economic interests remain in Germany (section 2 AStG). Put those interests in order and have the conditions checked every year. Guide to extended limited tax liability
- Document your days of presenceKeep a log of entries and exits, tickets and hotel invoices for every country you spend time in. It evidences residence in the destination country and rebuts a habitual abode in Germany.
- Exercise management from the new locationShareholder resolutions, contract signatures and bank approvals should take place where you now live, and the minutes and records should show it. What has moved on paper must actually happen there. If you need a new company, this is the best moment: the US LLC for location-independent work or a company at your new residence, each managed from there. Countries and legal forms for formation
- Set up a calendar of obligationsTax returns in both countries, notifications to the tax office (section 138 AO), renewal of the residence permit, the company’s annual filings, evidence for the tax regime: enter every date with the person responsible in one calendar. That keeps everything under control.
This checklist orders the steps and marks the points where the individual case decides. It does not replace legal or tax advice. That is provided by the licensed professionals you appoint directly.