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The idea of leaving before the year mark at a company that does signing bonuses stresses me the fuck out. Don't you have to pay back the bonus? When I got an Am
by teg4n_ 5y ago
The idea of leaving before the year mark at a company that does signing bonuses stresses me the fuck out. Don't you have to pay back the bonus? When I got an Amazon offer that was the case
- ddlutz 5y agoInteresting, I had two amazon offers and no signing bonus was like that. They essentially just prorated it out over the first two years as extra monthly income to be equivalent to the stock you would get in the later two years.
- dymk 5y agoIt depends. Companies can ask for (or demand) the signing bonus back. But some won't. I've heard of it going either way - it's luck of the draw.
- fermentation 5y agoAmazon gives their signing bonus out monthly over the course of the year to offset the lack of equity in the first few years, so I don't think you'd have to pay it back in this case.
- Matthias247 5y agoAt Amazon sign on bonuses are paid over the first 24month, so there is no need to pay back anything.
- willcipriano 5y agoIs that a signing bonus or a agreement to get paid less in two years?
- dragonwriter 5y agoIs there a meaningful difference?
- willcipriano 5y agoTo me a signing bonus is a upfront payment for you to agree to join. Paying it over two years is just a regular bonus paid biweekly. Time value of money makes the lump sum a lot more valuable, especially in these inflationary times.
- dymk 5y agoSure, a single lump sum bonus might bump you in a higher tax bracket, whereas the bonus paid over 2 years may keep you in a lower bracket.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- notreallyserio 5y agoThat's not really that big a deal. Sure, you might pay lower taxes if the bonus is split between two years, but the difference on tax would surely pale in comparison to typical gains in the stock market or other investment.
- thisguy47 5y agoIt is because they have a different vesting schedule from most companies. Instead of 25% of your stock annually with a 1 year cliff, they pay out 5%, 15%, 40%, 40%. So once your signing bonus is up, your shares ramp up.
- crmrc114 5y agoDepends on your agreement. Mine was a lump sum up front for the first year and a retention bonus plus stocks for year two. With strictly rsus for the last two years.
- delecti 5y agoYou have to pay them back pro rated. If you leave after 10 months you'd only have to pay back 2/12 of the bonus. At least that was the case when I started at Amazon (admittedly almost a decade ago).
- pcthrowaway 5y agoIf you get a signing bonus that you pay taxes on, then have to return part of it the following year, do you get to deduct it from taxes?
- delecti 5y agoI stayed over 5 years, so I never had to repay any bonus. I can't be sure what the tax implications would be of it, but based on what I know about taxes (more than most, less than an expert) I suspect it would count against your taxable income in the year when you had to pay it back.
- junar 5y agoYes, as long as the amount you repaid exceeds $3,000. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p525#en_US_2020_publink1000229603 https://www.irs.gov/publications/p525#en_US_2020_publink1000...
- benadam11 5y agoIts "sign-on payments" now - so essentially you get a salary augmentation for your first 2 years (and its applied to each paycheck) so you don't need to pay anything back when you leave.
- NotVerstappen 5y agoThink this depends on the amount - my sign-on bonus worked as you described, but some others I know got a lump sum (they were more junior and getting a smaller bonus).
- renewiltord 5y agoAmazon signing bonuses are there so they can compete on offers while retaining the internal culture metric of max salary.
- _moof 5y agoI had to pay back relocation once. Incredibly painful, but holy shit was it worth it to get away from that place.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]