Executive Summary: Preparing for 2025 Global Tax Changes
- High Costs of Employee Relocation: Taxes can account for up to one-third of total costs for tax-equalized moves, making accurate tax calculations essential for informed business decisions and employee satisfaction.
- Uncertain Global Environment: Geopolitical conflicts, political transitions, and evolving tax policies are driving significant changes in global tax landscapes, creating challenges for businesses managing international mobility programs.
- Key European Trends:
- Easing Tax Burdens: Countries like Germany and the Netherlands are introducing measures to provide tax relief for individuals.
- Increasing Revenue: France and Russia are imposing new taxes, especially on high earners to address fiscal needs, while Ukraine is increasing its defense tax.
- Attracting Talent: Luxembourg and the Netherlands are enhancing tax incentives to retain and attract skilled professionals.
- Equus Tax Engine Advantage:
- Delivers up-to-date tax data for accurate cost estimates.
- Ensure timely updates, with interim releases as needed, to address significant changes.
- Empowers businesses to take control of their global mobility programs confidently.
Navigating the Rising Costs of Global Mobility
Relocating your employees across borders is a complex and expensive undertaking. In addition to moving and housing expenses, taxes can account for up to one-third of total costs for tax-equalized moves, where companies cover the additional taxes employees may owe when moving between two locations with differing tax structures. Reliable cost estimates with accurate tax calculations are essential for ensuring sound financial planning, maintaining employee trust, and avoiding unexpected expenses.
At Equus, we understand the significant challenges businesses face in managing these costs. Our in-house tax team is dedicated to providing accurate, up-to-date data, empowering companies to make well-informed decisions and offer employees clarity about their compensation packages. We are actively identifying 2025 global tax changes that may impact some of our 225 supported authorities. These updates will be included in our scheduled release at the end of January, equipping our clients with the latest tax data to prepare cost estimates to support their decision making and compensation calculations effectively.
While we are committed to delivering 2025 tax data on a timely basis, delays and uncertainties driven by economic volatility, political transitions, and evolving tax policies are creating challenges. The observations shared in this article, written in early December 2025, reflect the most current insights but are subject to change in the coming weeks and months. To ensure the highest level of accuracy, our practice is to implement changes in the Tax Engine only after they are enacted, providing our clients with validated and reliable data.
Global Uncertainty and Its Impact on Taxes
The global economic and political environment remains unpredictable, with several key factors shaping tax policies:
- Geopolitical Conflicts: Ongoing tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East are prompting governments to adjust taxes to fund defense and recovery efforts. These changes often place additional burdens on companies and employees.
- Coalition Government Shifts: In Europe, coalition governments and political instability are driving lawmakers to make compromises, delaying or complicating tax reforms.
- Netherlands: Multiple amendments to the Tax Plan 2025 reflect the challenges of reaching consensus.
- France: Political opposition has stalled an austerity budget to reduce spending and increase tax revenues, creating uncertainty around proposed new taxes on high earners and inflation adjustments to income brackets.
- Belgium: A new government has yet to form, potentially delaying 2025 tax reform.
These developments underline the importance of staying agile and informed to navigate evolving tax policies effectively.
Key Trends in European Tax Policies
Despite uncertainties, tax policy remains a powerful tool for governments to achieve their objectives. Three major trends are emerging across Europe:
- Easing Tax Burdens:
- Netherlands: The new income tax bracket aims to provide relief for middle-income earners.
- Germany: Increased personal and child tax allowances, as well as a higher solidarity exemption threshold for the solidarity tax, focus on easing the financial burden on families.
- Increasing Revenue:
- France: A proposed minimum tax on high earners targets revenue generation, though its impact on expatriates remains unclear.
- Russia: New tax brackets impose higher rates on top earners.
- Ukraine: An increased defense tax will take effect on December 1.
- Attracting and Retaining Talent:
- Luxembourg: Revised inpatriate regimes exempt up to 50% of gross salary from taxes for eligible workers, appealing to skilled professionals.
- Netherlands: Maintaining the 30% expat tax concession for two additional years provides stability for global mobility programs.
These trends highlight the growing complexity of managing global tax obligations while balancing employee and business needs.
Take Control with the Equus Tax Engine
The Equus Tax Engine is designed to empower your business to navigate global tax changes confidently. Our commitment to timely, accurate updates ensures that you have the data needed to make informed decisions.
- Regular Updates: We monitor developments across 225 tax jurisdictions and deliver updates in scheduled releases, with interim releases for significant changes in high-usage jurisdictions.
- Reliable Data: Our policy of only delivering enacted tax changes ensures that your planning is based on accurate and validated information.
- Client Support: Our clients can access detailed information about upcoming changes via our Equus Tax Engine – Upcoming Tax Updates page in the Help Center.
With the Equus Tax Engine, you can manage tax complexities, optimize your mobility programs, and build confidence in your decisions.
Learn More
Take the next step to streamline your tax planning for 2025:
- Contact us to discuss your global mobility challenges.
- Request a demo to see the Equus Tax Engine in action.
- For our existing clients, visit our Help Center to explore upcoming tax updates.
Equip your business with the tools to stay ahead in a dynamic global environment and ensure success in the year ahead.
