The Cross-Border Tax Insider
A curated set of resources from Vasily Vitalyev on cross-border tax planning, decision modeling, and the tools I actually use.
Important: Nothing on this page or anywhere on this blog is financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. I write from personal experience and public sources. You are responsible for your own decisions. When stakes are high, consult a licensed professional in your country. I’m a business advisor for Taixable and disclose this in every post that mentions the platform.
What this page is for
If you’ve landed here, you’re probably trying to make sense of one of these questions:
- Should I model the tax consequences of a major move before I make it, and how?
- How do tools like Taixable compare to a Big-4 engagement, an independent professional, or DIY analysis?
- What does “validated tax content” actually mean, and why should I care?
- What are the real costs of cross-border financial decisions that don’t show up in the headline tax rate?
The posts below are the longer-form pieces I’ve written that try to answer those questions in depth. I link to Taixable in each of them where it’s genuinely the right tool for the situation, and to other tools or resources where they’re better suited.
Start here: the framework
If you read one piece, read this one. It walks through the framework I use for any major cross-border financial decision, when modeling pays for itself, and how to decide between DIY analysis, structured tools, and professional help.
- The cross-border tax decision report: when modeling pays for itself — the framework, the math, and where each option fits
Why most software gets cross-border wrong
The starting point for understanding why this category of tools even needs to exist. Generic single-country tax software breaks down the moment your situation crosses borders, and most cross-border-aware tools aren’t actually cross-border-aware.
- Why most US expat tax software gets cross-border situations wrong — the structural reasons mainstream tools fall short
Pre-decision modeling: the highest-leverage exercise
Two pieces on the practice of modeling tax outcomes before you act. The cost of getting this wrong is much higher than the cost of doing it properly.
- Model your cross-border tax outcomes before you relocate, not after — why the order matters and what the analysis should cover
- Equity compensation across three countries: a worked example — what proper modeling looks like for a stock-options decision
Validated rules versus AI answers
The risk with any tax tool — including AI assistants and chatbots — is producing a confident answer that’s wrong. This piece covers what “validated rules” actually means and why the distinction matters more than the surface user experience.
- Validated tax content versus AI answers — how to evaluate any tool you’re thinking of using
Country deep-dives that mention the modeling angle
Two practical country pieces where the cross-border modeling question comes up directly.
- Spain vs Portugal in 2026: which is better for digital nomads on a tax basis? — the kind of comparison where modeling beats vibes
About Taixable
Taixable is a cross-border tax planning platform built around what they call a Validated Rules Model: every rule is sourced and reviewed before it’s used in a calculation, with disclosure of where each piece of information came from. The platform is designed for people whose financial situation crosses borders and who can’t get useful answers from generic tax software or generic personal finance content.
The two products that fit most readers of this blog:
- The Pro subscription — ongoing access to country guides, planning tools, and rule updates as laws change
- The Decision Report — a structured one-off analysis for a specific cross-border decision (a job offer, a relocation, an asset sale, a stock-option exercise). Useful when you don’t need ongoing access but want a clean modeling exercise before you act
You can see the current pricing and product lineup at taixable.com. As I disclose in every post, I’m a business advisor for the company. I don’t get paid per click or per signup from this blog — I link to Taixable when I think it’s the right tool for the situation, and to other tools or resources when those are the better fit.
Other useful resources I link to in posts
Cross-border tax work isn’t a single-tool category. The resources I find myself linking to most often, alongside Taixable:
- IRS International Taxpayers — for US-citizen-specific rules
- HMRC — for UK rules, including the Statutory Residence Test
- Wise — for the operational side of multi-currency banking
- Nomad List — for cost-of-living and lifestyle research, with the caveat that the tax data on most aggregator sites is unreliable
Other landing pages on this blog
- Cross-border collaborations — recommended tools and platforms
- Free resources and offers — free tools and limited promotions
- Wider community collaborations — extended network
Want to go deeper?
Browse the full blog archive for everything I’ve written, or jump straight to Taixable if you’ve already decided you want to model your specific situation.
For questions, post suggestions, or anything else, see the contact page.