<prompt> Human: Lets say I join a company that gave a sign-on bonus. For conversation sake, lets assume the sign on bonus is 20,000. After taxes, lets say I got a total of 13,000 in my checking account.Now, the stipulation is that I stay employed with the company for a year, or I return some of the amount. Lets say I change companies mid way, do I owe the company 10,000 half the bonus amount or do I owe the company 6500 half the money I actually received in my checking account? Obviously this is not something I want to ask my boss or anyone at work, so I figured I would post here : EDIT: Thanks for all the responses guys. It looks like one, I might owe the company the entire money and two, I might get the taxes back from the IRS once I report it correctly. Thats a relief, the tax part was what I was more worried off. I have the money to repay the entire amount if needed, I just wanted to know if I lose some money in the transaction as taxes. Thanks again ! Assistant: what does your agreement say on signing bonus? if you owe the entire amount back, then time to pony up 20kHuman: So that means I effectively lose the tax I paid?  <response>: You get that money back from IRS. 