How does SpyglassBeacon protect a client's relocation?

It documents where the client actually spent each day, automatically and contemporaneously, from the start of the move. If the former high-tax state later challenges the residency change, the client has a timestamped day-by-day record to support the position instead of a reconstruction from memory.

Is this useful for Puerto Rico Act 60 clients?

Yes. Act 60 bona fide residency includes a presence test that is defended in an IRS audit, and contemporaneous day records are what carry it. Note that the presence test is only one of three tests and passing the day count alone is not enough.

Where does the client's data go?

It stays on the client's phone. No account, no cloud copy, nothing uploaded or sold. The client exports and shares a report when they choose to.

Does it replace the client's CPA or attorney?

No. It is a documentation tool that produces the evidence a residency position relies on. The tax and legal conclusions stay with the client's CPA and attorney; SpyglassBeacon does not give tax advice.

FOR FINANCIAL ADVISORS

When a client changes domicile, the day count is the plan

A move to Florida, Texas, or Puerto Rico only delivers the tax outcome you modeled if the residency position holds. That turns on days, the burden of proof is on the client, and a failed position can unwind years of planning. SpyglassBeacon documents the days automatically, from the first day of the move.

Days by state · 2026 Recording

New York 176

7 days from the 183-day line

Florida 158

25 days from the 183-day line

New Jersey 15

168 days to spare

California 12

171 days to spare

Texas 4

179 days to spare

365 days recorded · 4,912 location records · contemporaneous, on your device

A relocating client's standing at a glance — days accruing in the old state, flagged before they cross back over the line.

The relocation risk you can't see on a statement

A client tells you they now spend most of the year in Florida. The plan assumes it. Two years later the former state opens a residency audit and asks the client to prove it, day by day, and the burden is on them. If the only evidence is memory and a few receipts, a defensible-on-paper move becomes a contested one, with back taxes, interest, and penalties attached to the plan you built. The exposure is invisible right up until it isn't.

Proactive documentation, from day one of the move

Have the client run SpyglassBeacon the moment the move begins. It keeps a contemporaneous, timestamped day count for every state, warns the client before they drift back over a threshold in the old state, and exports a day-by-day report their CPA can put in the file. It turns "I'm sure I was in Florida enough" into an evidence record built as it happened.

Sample

SpyglassBeacon

Residency day count — 2026

Generated Jul 27, 2026, 9:41 PM · 365 days recorded

Days by state

State	Days present	Threshold	Days remaining
New York	176	183	7
Florida	158	183	25
New Jersey	15	183	168
California	12	183	171
Texas	4	183	179

Day-by-day record

Date	State(s)	Location records	First–last record
2026-07-21	New York	9	07:58–22:14
2026-07-22	New York	11	08:04–21:47
2026-07-23	New York, New Jersey	12	06:31–23:02
2026-07-24	New Jersey	7	09:12–20:41
2026-07-25	Florida	8	06:12–22:33
2026-07-26	Florida	10	07:40–21:05
247 earlier days in the full record

A day is attributed to every state with at least one location record that calendar day (device-local time) — the “any part of a day” standard used in New York residency audits. Threshold shown is the common 183-day statutory-residency test; state rules vary. Location history is recorded on-device by SpyglassBeacon.

The report the client hands their CPA — a per-state summary and a timestamped day-by-day record.

High-stakes cases: Act 60 and the presence test

For clients pursuing Puerto Rico Act 60, bona fide residency is defended in an IRS audit and rests in part on a presence test that contemporaneous day records support. The day count is necessary but not sufficient: Act 60 also requires a tax-home test and a closer-connection test for the full year, so treat Beacon as the presence documentation, not the whole qualification. See Puerto Rico Act 60.

On-device and client-owned

Everything stays on the client's phone: no account, no cloud copy, nothing uploaded or sold. The client owns the record and shares an export when they want to. For high-net-worth clients especially, that on-device posture is often the difference between agreeing to track and quietly not doing it.

It complements the CPA and attorney

SpyglassBeacon does not give tax or legal advice or make the residency call. It produces the documentation the position depends on, so you look proactive, the CPA has real evidence to work from, and the plan rests on a record instead of a recollection.

Not tax or legal advice. Residency and domicile rules vary by jurisdiction and are fact-specific. SpyglassBeacon is a documentation tool; it does not provide tax or investment advice or guarantee any audit outcome.

Sources: IRS, bona fide residence.

Make the residency move defensible

Have clients document their days from day one, and hand their CPA a contemporaneous record instead of a reconstruction.

Get the app