Moving abroad from the US in 2026: a money checklist for before and after you go

A move abroad changes where a US citizen lives, not where they file taxes. The US taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, so the paperwork grows rather than shrinks, and the accounts left behind come with conditions of their own. This checklist puts the money steps in date order, from the months before the move to the first filing season abroad, with figures checked against IRS, Social Security and Medicare sources as of November 2, 2026. It's written for citizens; green card holders who leave face extra questions about keeping their status.

Moving abroad money checklist, with dates

The four lists below follow the order in which the tasks come up, and the sections after them explain each item with the figures and sources behind it.

What happens to US bank and brokerage accounts when you move abroad?

Usually they can stay open, but each firm decides what a customer with a foreign address may still do, and policies differ even between similar firms.

The rules that bind every firm are about identity, not location. FINRA Rule 4512 requires brokers to record each customer's name and residence, and the customer identification rule for brokers in 31 CFR 1023.220 calls for a residential or business street address. Neither requires a firm to close an account because its customer has moved. The restrictions people run into are firm policy, shaped partly by the securities rules of the countries customers move to. Depending on the firm and the destination, an account may carry on as before, be limited to selling and withdrawing, lose the ability to buy mutual funds or to fund a 529 plan or HSA, or be closed after notice.

Asking before the move leaves time to transfer an account to a firm that serves the destination, which is simpler while you still have a US address, because some firms won't open an account for someone who already lives abroad. Banks make the same kinds of choices about checking accounts and cards. One US checking account is worth keeping either way: IRS Direct Pay and most US bill payments draw on one, Social Security can pay into it from most countries, and cash held there stays within FDIC deposit insurance up to the usual limits. IRAs and 401(k) plans can generally stay where they are, though new IRA contributions need compensation that isn't excluded from income.

The other reason to hold on to a US brokerage account is what happens to investments bought abroad. A mutual fund or ETF set up outside the US is usually a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for a US shareholder. Each PFIC generally needs its own Form 8621 every year, and by default a gain or large distribution is spread over the holding period, with the share assigned to earlier years taxed at that year's top rate plus an interest charge. In the European Union, the PRIIPs regulation requires a key information document before a packaged investment is sold to retail investors, and most US-listed ETFs don't publish one, so local brokers often won't sell them. The comparison of US and Irish-domiciled ETFs is written for non-US investors; for a US citizen, an Irish fund is a PFIC.

Which US tax filings continue after the move?

All of them continue: a US citizen files a federal return on worldwide income wherever they live, and life abroad usually adds forms rather than removing any.

The return keeps its usual April 15 due date, with more time for people abroad. Living outside the US on that date brings an automatic extension to June 15, and Form 4868 filed by June 15 moves the deadline to October 15, though interest on unpaid tax runs from April 15 in every case. Because the filing threshold counts foreign wages even when they'll be excluded, most people working abroad still have to file.

Foreign accounts bring two separate reports. The FBAR, FinCEN Form 114, is filed online with FinCEN for any year in which foreign financial accounts total more than $10,000 combined at any point, and it's due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15. Form 8938 goes to the IRS with the tax return, and for people who count as living abroad it applies when specified foreign financial assets total more than $200,000 on the last day of the year or more than $300,000 at any time during it ($400,000 and $600,000 on a joint return). Living abroad here means a tax home in a foreign country plus either bona fide residence there or at least 330 full days abroad in 12 consecutive months; anyone who doesn't qualify uses the US thresholds of $50,000 and $75,000. The FBAR guide compares the two forms line by line, penalties included.

Large gifts or bequests from people who aren't US persons have a third report, covered in the Form 3520 guide. Local banks see the US side too: under FATCA, foreign financial institutions report accounts held by US persons to the IRS, which is why they ask new customers about citizenship and a US taxpayer number.

How does state tax residency end when you leave?

Each state sets its own test, and most start from domicile, the permanent home a person intends to return to, which doesn't change just because they leave the country.

That matters because a state that still counts someone as a resident can tax all of their income, wherever it's earned. The state left behind decides, not the IRS, and the two largest states show how specific the rules get.

California has a safe harbor for domiciliaries who leave for work. Someone outside the state under an employment-related contract for at least 546 consecutive days is treated as a nonresident for that time, along with an accompanying spouse or registered domestic partner, and return visits totaling up to 45 days in a tax year count as temporary. The safe harbor doesn't apply if intangible income such as interest and dividends exceeds $200,000 in any tax year of the contract, or if the main purpose of the absence is avoiding tax. A California resident gets neither a foreign tax credit nor the foreign earned income exclusion, according to the Franchise Tax Board's Publication 1031.

New York treats a domiciliary as a nonresident under either of two tests. In the first, they keep no permanent place of abode in New York, keep one elsewhere all year and spend no more than 30 days in the state. In the second, the 548-day rule, they spend at least 450 days in foreign countries during any 548 consecutive days, they and their spouse and minor children spend no more than 90 days in New York during that period, and a proportional day limit applies to the partial years at either end.

States that look at domicile usually weigh where someone keeps a home, where their family lives, where they vote and hold a driver's license, and how many days they spend in the state, so a lease or sale contract, the new country's residence papers and a day log are worth keeping.

How much foreign income can be excluded in 2026?

For tax year 2026 the exclusion is $132,900 per qualifying person, up from $130,000 for 2025, and it's claimed on Form 2555 with the return.

Qualifying takes a tax home in a foreign country and one of two tests: bona fide residence abroad for an uninterrupted period that includes a full tax year, or physical presence abroad for at least 330 full days in any 12 consecutive months. The exclusion covers pay for work done abroad, not investment income or pensions. A separate housing exclusion or deduction applies to housing costs above a 2026 base amount of $21,264, up to a general cap of $39,870, with higher caps for the high-cost locations listed in IRS Notice 2026-25.

Two rules make the exclusion less generous than it looks. Income left after the exclusion is taxed at the rates that would apply if the excluded amount were still counted, so for a single filer who excludes the full $132,900 in 2026, taxable income starts in the 24% bracket rather than the 10% one. And excluded income still counts in some income tests: it's added back to the modified AGI used for the 3.8% net investment income tax and to the modified AGI that phases down the 2026 SALT deduction cap, which matters to someone who stays a California resident while abroad and itemizes state tax. What the 2025 tax law changed for investors shows how that phase-down works, and why moving costs stay nondeductible for nearly everyone outside the military.

The alternative is the foreign tax credit on Form 1116, which credits income tax paid abroad against US tax on the same income. Where the foreign tax is at least as high as the US tax, the credit alone can leave little or nothing owed, and the wages still count as compensation for IRA contributions. Foreign tax on excluded income can't also be credited, and revoking the exclusion once chosen blocks it for five years without IRS consent, so the choice deserves a careful first year.

How can you move money abroad for the least FX cost?

Compare every quote with the mid-market rate, because on a large one-time transfer the exchange-rate markup usually costs far more than any flat fee.

The mid-market rate is the midpoint between the buying and selling prices in the currency market, and a provider's markup is how far its rate falls short of it, in percent. Banks often convert international wires at their own retail rate, while specialist transfer services often charge smaller markups. The gap matters most on the large sums people move once, at the start of a stay abroad. The guide to exchange-rate markups shows how to turn a quote into a percentage, the mid-market rate explainer covers where the benchmark comes from, and the cheapest way to send money abroad compares the main channels.

The table below applies those markups to the latest dollar-euro rate. For other currencies, the currency converter shows the mid-market rate, and the money transfer cost calculator works out the total cost of a quote.

Funding the move from a US bank account also keeps it clear of the remittance transfer tax, which is 1% of the amount sent, on transfers paid with cash, a money order, a cashier's check or a similar physical instrument. Transfers funded from a bank or other financial-institution account, or with a US-issued debit or credit card are exempt, as the remittance tax guide explains. Moving your own money between your own accounts isn't a gift, so it needs no gift tax return, while money sent to someone else can be one; see gift tax on money sent abroad.

A single large sum usually travels by wire, and the guides to ACH and wire transfers and international wire fees cover the charges on each side. Receiving banks abroad often ask where a large deposit came from, so keep the US statements that show the source. Destination guides cover local details for Europe, Canada, Mexico and the UK.

What happens to Social Security and Medicare when you live abroad?

Social Security keeps paying US citizens in most countries, but Medicare generally covers no care outside the US, so the two call for different plans.

Treasury rules bar Social Security payments to people in Cuba and North Korea; SSA holds a US citizen's payments and releases them once the person moves to a country where payments can go. SSA also restricts payments to Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with some exceptions. Benefits can go to a US account or, in countries on SSA's international direct deposit list, to a local bank. They're calculated in dollars and aren't adjusted for exchange-rate moves, and the 2027 cost-of-living increase of 3.6% applies abroad as it does at home. Beneficiaries outside the US get a questionnaire every year or every two years, and payments stop if it isn't returned. Rules for beneficiaries who aren't citizens differ.

The US has totalization agreements with 31 countries; the newest, with Romania, took effect on September 1, 2026. They stop people from paying into two countries' systems on the same work and let credits from both count toward benefits. A foreign pension no longer cuts US benefits either, because the Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, ended the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset for benefits payable from January 2024.

Medicare is the harder part. It generally doesn't pay for care outside the US, the exceptions are narrow, such as an emergency in the US when a foreign hospital is closer than the nearest US one, and Medicare drug plans don't cover prescriptions bought abroad. Premium-free Part A costs nothing to keep. The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026; CMS announced that figure on November 14, 2025 and hadn't announced the 2027 amount as of November 2, 2026. Dropping Part B saves the premium, but signing up again is limited to the General Enrollment Period, with coverage from the month after sign-up and a late penalty of 10% of the standard premium for each full 12 months without coverage, kept for as long as the person has Part B.

Whether the premium is worth paying depends on how often someone expects to be treated in the US and on the health cover available in the new country, which varies with the country and the type of residence. Guides on fees, exchange rates and reporting rules for money crossing borders are collected in the money transfer hub.