<prompt> Human: Hi all, Im looking for some advice on a sort of weird tax situation thats come out of paying back my signing bonus. Heres some background: I started a job in August 2017 and received a signing bonus of 13,500 with my first paycheck. Of that, I saw 8,914.04 as my net pay with 3,553.21 going to taxes and 1,032.75 going to social security and medicare. The language of the contract I signed with this company explicitly says that if I leave before my 3-year anniversary, Id be responsible for repaying back the entire bonus not great, I know and I was verbally told that I could be responsible for paying back less, although at the full discretion of the CEO. For a bunch of unrelated reasons, I quit my job in July 2018 and started a new one that Im waaay happier with, and now rightfully so have to pay back my signing bonus. The CEO of the company gave me until the end of 2018 to pay it back and I do have the money, but hes requesting that I pay it back in its full pre-tax amount of 13,500, even though I never saw 4,585.96 of it. Since the bonus was paid in a different year, apparently the way to recoup this money isnt super straightforward.I did some research on my own that basically explained to me 1 the company needs to file an amended 941 form to recoup the Medicare and Social Security withholding, and 2 once I repay them, they need to give me a W2-C to file with my 2018 returns in order for me to get a refund or a credit? not exactly sure on the 3,553.21 that I paid with my 2017 taxes. I emailed the CEO about this, who then spoke to his accountant, and his reply was the following:You are correct that company name will need to file an amended 941 return in order to receive the credit for both the employer and employee FICA and Medicare payments. Therefore, I agree that it is best that you reduce your payment to company name by 1032.75. Regarding the federal and state tax portions, company name doesnt issue a corrected 2017 W2 for you since the bonus wages were actually paid in 2017 and the year has closed. The procedure for claiming a miscellaneous deduction or negative income on Form 1040 personal tax returns in 2018 has been impacted by the recently-enacted tax reform and it would be best to contact an accountant if you wish to receive guidance on it.Basically, my question boils down to how accurate this is and what will I get back if I file a Form 1040? It seems a little bit fishy that they wont give me a W2-C since my understanding of that form is that its literally used to correct the wages that were reported as paid for up to 3 years from when the original return was filed. If anyone has any advice or insight on what I should do moving forward with this, I would really appreciate it! This is only going to be my second time filing taxes Im only 23 and I want to make sure Im fully informed before I start giving them their money back.  <response>: You owe the gross back. The taxes withheld were to pay for either your future social security and Medicare credits, or to pay your income tax hit. It would be worthwhile to have someone look into claiming it as a credit in 2018 when you pay it back. State laws vary and the federal rules are different. 