They want the full amount back because you’ll get the $7k back when you do your taxes, just sucks that you have to wait. If you only paid back the $13k you’d end up getting back the $7k when you do taxes, so the company is never made whole. Maybe they accept a payment plan?

For what it's worth I didn't read that much into the comment. You both assumed too much of each other.

Haha, exactly! I just wanted to make it clear that this is not a secret tax hack or anything, this is the normal thing that almost anyone would save some $$ by doing.

Total months

Yep, but we don't have much choice anymore.

Okay, that makes sense then.

You basically have to take care of it when you file your taxes.

Basically never. If I'm curious one random day I'll use the FICO scores provided by any of my various CC services when I'm in there already to pay the bill.

$3000... they are fucking $3000 now.

I have damn near 1TB of storage in my used phone that I picked up for 400 bucks, because you could add SD cards back in 2019... but now... you can't... I need the storage, and I need the larger screen because I literally use my phone as a laptop/computer.

Sell the house and move on. Things get busy and expensive with a newborn even if everything goes super smoothly. You don't want the headache of finding a property manager /being a landlord with a newborn and an increased mortgage. Take the equity you have now and move on.

No. OP only has 2 legal options:

• Married Filing Jointly

• Married Filing Separately

They cannot... I repeat cannot... file as Single.

Yes, don’t assume something because “it makes sense”. Get it in writing, what you have paid for, and what you are being asked to pay.

I’ve done my best to put everything on auto and what’s left is actual spending money. I have my weekly debits, investments etc, and have a number in mind that I like to hover around. If my savings grows too much, I invest or more it to another account (emergency fund) then go back to auto pilot.

I still think about everything I spend, but it’s all automatic now, so I really just try to balance my account at a certain number. If I’m over or under it allows me to invest more or scale back my spending.

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I think the point they are making is that the bonus was taxed - so they didn't receive $20k, but the after tax amount. However, HR doesn't care, they want the pre-tax amount, and you correct the taxes to show you didn't actually receive that income. Refunding the taxes paid on your behalf.

Thanks for your responses and being patient with me. I appreciate it.

Sean Connery should be asked to be the spokesperson for Citibank…

RIP

OP got the money minus taxes, spent it before the payback date in the contract and now doesn't have the money.

If someone receives a bonus when they are hired, it's pretty much a certainty that there is a stipulation that you have to pay it back if you don't stay for six months or a year or whatever.

That's not OP's question.

OP is saying that they only received part of the bonus, but the company wants them to pay it back as though they had received the whole thing.

You'd want to keep a portion in an emergency fund though. Size of that fund is up to you and based on your typical monthly expenses (general rule of thumb is emergency fund would last you ~3-6 months). Then can invest the rest.

Do you mean excessive in funds allocated per month or total months in savings?

Severance is the company saying "we'll pay you this much as you leave without you having to work, but just sign this paperwork...". That paperwork boils down to you agreeing this layoff was legal (you're not being fired because of your race or as retaliation for something you did) and you won't take them to court for it. It may also include something like a "non-compete" clause where you agree not to work for a competitor of your ex-employer for some period of time.

Ideally, they'll lay out what is in that severance agreement, and will recommend you get your own legal counsel to read it over. You do not have to sign that paperwork. And if you don't, they don't have to give you anything.

How much severance is offered varies a lot. Often it's based on length of employment. I went through a layoff that gave one week per year of service. Or there may be a base level (say two weeks pay) plus one week severance per two years. It may or may not include continuation of benefits during the length of the severance period (handy for things like health insurance before COBRA kicks in). Or any number of other options. But there's not really anything that you'd definitively be "entitled" to, just what terms are offered and whether or not you accept.

Employees don't really have much leverage around negotiating severance, other than accept / decline. Declining is only going to be beneficial if you think you could win a wrongful termination suit for more than the offered severance (a very long shot in most cases).

I would start by informing HR that you didn't actually receive the $20K. Show them the deposit record from your bank.

I can't fathom somewhere with an actual HR department (as opposed to just a cheap owner trying to make a buck off of someone) expecting somebody to pay back a bonus they did not receive.

Edit: I didn't realize that you meant the extra was for taxes - I thought you meant they had literally only paid you part of the bonus (as though it was paid in installments or something). You can potentially have them withhold no taxes on your final paycheck, but that obviously isn't going to make up for $7000.

You're really just going to have to deal with it until you get it back on your taxes. You can potentially have little/nothing withheld from taxes on your new job to try to make up the difference.

IRS should give you the $7k on your next tax return. Ask an accountant how to do this.

Your employer is obligated to the full $20k back. There is a small chance your employer will sue you for the money so you could just "ghost them" and chance it

An alternative to investing in CDs is investing in Treasury bills (can do through Treasury Direct or your brokerage account). Currently, the annualized yield for a Treasury bill is higher than the 5% you're seeing for a CD (the 6-month one is 5.11% on Schwab for example). And while interest on CDs is taxable at the federal and state level, interest on Treasury bills is exempt from state and local taxes. Could be advantageous if you live in a high income tax state.