The truck is empty, the beds are set up, and the boxes are slowly turning back into a house. Then the mail starts showing up at the wrong address, and you remember there’s a second half to moving: telling everyone where you live now.
Most of it isn’t hard, but a few items in Pennsylvania run on a real clock, and one of them can save you money on property taxes if you don’t miss it. We help families settle into new homes across Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Lehigh counties every week, so here’s the list we’d hand a friend on move-in day.
Before you move: start your mail forwarding
Put in your change of address with the U.S. Postal Service a week or two before moving day. USPS says to allow 7 to 10 business days after your request is approved for forwarding to kick in, so doing it after the move means a gap where bills and cards go to the old house.
Once it’s running, First-Class Mail is forwarded for 12 months. Magazines and newsletters only get 60 days, so update those subscriptions directly. One thing that surprises people: USPS notes that senders like banks and government agencies often won’t let sensitive mail be forwarded at all, including driver’s licenses and voter cards. Forwarding is a safety net, not a substitute for updating your accounts.
Within 15 days: PennDOT, for your license and your car
Pennsylvania law gives you 15 days after a move to report your new address to PennDOT, and it covers two separate records: your driver’s license or photo ID, and the registration for every vehicle in your name. Updating one doesn’t update the other.
You can do both online at PennDOT’s site, or mail in form MV-63. For a license changed online, PennDOT mails a free address update card within about 10 days. Keep that card with your license, because you’re required to carry it. For your vehicle, you’ll print a new registration card at the end of the online transaction. You don’t need a new license photo or new plates for a move within the state.
The address-change clock, in one picture
Here’s what runs on a timer after a move in Pennsylvania, pulled from PennDOT, USPS and state sources.
Right away: tell your employer, for local income tax
This one catches a lot of people moving between townships. Pennsylvania municipalities and school districts collect a local earned income tax through payroll, and the rate depends on where you live. Under the state’s Act 32 rules, your employer needs a new Residency Certification Form whenever your home address changes.
Ask HR or payroll for the form the week you move. If you’re curious what your new rate is, the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development has an address search at dced.pa.gov/Act32 that shows your new municipality, school district and tax collector. If you’re self-employed, that same search tells you which collector to file with going forward.
If you bought: the homestead exclusion, due March 1
If you bought your new home and it’s your primary residence, apply for the homestead exclusion with your county assessment office. It lowers the assessed value of your home for school district property taxes. State law sets the application deadline at March 1, and school districts are supposed to tell you by December 31 if you’re not approved. It isn’t automatic when you close, and many new owners don’t realize they have to file.
Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Lehigh counties each have the form on their assessment office website. Have your parcel number handy (it’s on your settlement papers or tax bill). If you sold a home elsewhere in Pennsylvania, the old property’s approval doesn’t carry over to the new one.
Before the next election: your voter registration
Your voter registration doesn’t follow you automatically either. Update it online at the Pennsylvania Department of State’s voter site, or check the voter box on PennDOT’s MV-63 form if you’re mailing that in anyway. Pennsylvania’s registration deadline is 15 days before an election, so don’t leave it until the week you want to vote. Once it’s updated, look up your new polling place.
The rest of the list, in a sensible order
None of these has a legal deadline, but they’re the ones people tell us they forgot:
- Car insurance. Rates are set partly by where the car is kept, so call your agent the week you move.
- Banks, cards and payroll. Update these directly, since forwarded mail won’t always include them.
- Utilities and trash. Confirm electric, gas, water and sewer are in your name, and find your township or borough’s trash and recycling day. Many municipalities have it on their website.
- Doctors, pharmacy and vet. Transfer prescriptions and records before you run out of anything.
- Schools and pets. If you have kids or a dog, Pennsylvania has its own timelines for school enrollment and dog license transfers. Our moving with kids and pets guide covers both.
- Online shopping and subscriptions. Change the saved shipping address so the next order doesn’t go to the old house.
A simple way to keep track
On move-in night, open a note on your phone or tape a sheet inside a kitchen cabinet and write down every piece of forwarded mail that shows up for the next month or two. Each one is a company that still has the old address. Update it, cross it off, and by the time forwarding runs out, nothing’s left on the list.
If you’re still in the planning stage, our how to prepare for your move guide and 8-week moving checklist cover the weeks before the truck arrives.
When there’s time between addresses
If your closing dates don’t line up and you’ll be between homes for a while, decide which address you’ll use for mail before you leave the old one. USPS offers temporary forwarding for stays of 15 days up to a year, which works well if you’re with family. Our move-and-store service picks up your things, keeps them in vault storage at our Quakertown warehouse, and delivers when the new house is ready. Our closing-date gap guide explains how it works.
We’re here when you’re ready
We’re a family-owned, licensed and insured mover based in Hatfield, with our own storage warehouse in Quakertown, serving families across Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Lehigh counties. We’ll handle the heavy part so you have the energy for the paperwork. Call us at (215) 622-8140 or visit betterchoicemoving.com. When you’re ready, you can schedule an estimate or book your move online.
About the chart: PennDOT timing comes from PennDOT’s Moving Within PA page and 75 Pa.C.S. § 1312. Mail forwarding timing comes from USPS. The homestead deadline comes from PA DCED and 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584. The Residency Certification Form requirement comes from PA DCED’s Act 32 guidance. Check with your county and municipality for their exact forms. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.