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I had to return a prorated portion of my signing bonus and relocation expenses. The larger financial hit was that none of my RSUs had vested, so I walked away f

I had to return a prorated portion of my signing bonus and relocation expenses. The larger financial hit was that none of my RSUs had vested, so I walked away from those entirely (my understanding is that Google has since changed their policy and RSUs now begin vesting immediately). To be clear, I don't recommend that anyone join Google with the intention of leaving in less than a year. Even though I wasn't particularly enjoying myself, I was planning on staying for ~18 months to pay back Google's investment in my training. In the end though I changed my mind and left earlier because an opportunity came up that was simply too good to refuse.

joshuamorton 8y ago
This is correct. You'll still repost prorated signing and relo, but some of your stock will have vested.
- Hydraulix989 8y ago
  Surprised there is no one-year cliff now. Also did you have to return the pre-tax amounts or the post-tax amounts?
  - joshuamorton 8y ago
    I stayed beyond one year, so idk. But I'd expect pre-tax. Obviously you wouldn't pay tax on the amount you return, so it's not really an important distinction.
    - Hydraulix989 8y ago
      Typically, the company withholds the tax for you though. I've heard stories of companies demanding the pre-tax amounts even though THEY "paid" your tax already by withholding it.
      - joshuamorton 8y ago
        That makes sense to me. The company can't unpay your taxes for you, you need to do that (and there are many options to do that, which vary from underpaying your next estimated taxes[1] to just waiting for a larger than normal refund). And if I recall, if your income increases a significant amount, you aren't penalized for underpaying estimated taxes, so there's ways to "protect" yourself (and also to not overpay). But making your taxes correct is your responsibility, not your employers. Why would your company reimburse you for taxes that you don't owe? [1]: For example, when I was interning, the "trick" was to set yourself as having some large number of dependents in the payroll tool. The tools assumed a year long employment, but as a fixed-term employee, you would owe significantly fewer taxes than the estimation. Careful massaging of the number of dependents was a knob you could turn to make your estimated taxes more in line with your actual taxes. This was, according to people I asked, legal as long as it wasn't being done fraudulently.
      - kcorbitt 8y ago
        This all gets adjusted at tax filing time. The pay I returned to Google essentially counted as "negative pay" and decreases the amount of taxable income reported for the year I returned it.

joshuamorton 8y ago

This is correct. You'll still repost prorated signing and relo, but some of your stock will have vested.

Hydraulix989 8y ago
Surprised there is no one-year cliff now. Also did you have to return the pre-tax amounts or the post-tax amounts?
- joshuamorton 8y ago
  I stayed beyond one year, so idk. But I'd expect pre-tax. Obviously you wouldn't pay tax on the amount you return, so it's not really an important distinction.
  - Hydraulix989 8y ago
    Typically, the company withholds the tax for you though. I've heard stories of companies demanding the pre-tax amounts even though THEY "paid" your tax already by withholding it.
    - joshuamorton 8y ago
      That makes sense to me. The company can't unpay your taxes for you, you need to do that (and there are many options to do that, which vary from underpaying your next estimated taxes[1] to just waiting for a larger than normal refund). And if I recall, if your income increases a significant amount, you aren't penalized for underpaying estimated taxes, so there's ways to "protect" yourself (and also to not overpay). But making your taxes correct is your responsibility, not your employers. Why would your company reimburse you for taxes that you don't owe? [1]: For example, when I was interning, the "trick" was to set yourself as having some large number of dependents in the payroll tool. The tools assumed a year long employment, but as a fixed-term employee, you would owe significantly fewer taxes than the estimation. Careful massaging of the number of dependents was a knob you could turn to make your estimated taxes more in line with your actual taxes. This was, according to people I asked, legal as long as it wasn't being done fraudulently.
    - kcorbitt 8y ago
      This all gets adjusted at tax filing time. The pay I returned to Google essentially counted as "negative pay" and decreases the amount of taxable income reported for the year I returned it.