Sign On Bonus

[fideldyfee]

I recently started a new job. I got the job through a recruitment agent. When he was sorting out with the company what my salary would be he came back to me with the amount and said i would get a 1k sign on bonus, so it was really 1k more salary for the first year. Hope that makes sense so far. Anyway i started the job, signed the contract etc then realised this bonus wasnt mentioned on it. So i spoke to HR and they said they would have to send me an addenum to my contract about it because if i leave in the first 2 years i need to pay it back. So they have sent me this and it says that the amount needs to be paid back in full. Fair enough, but it was paid in with my wages last month and was taxed. So does this mean i would need to pay back �1000 even though i probably only received about �800? P.S i am thinking of leaving before 2 years!

[dundurn]

You do have to pay back �1000 but if it's done by reducing your final salary payment the adjustment for tax/ NI will automatically reduce the amount you repay to approx. the �800 you received. The amount would be different if the tax regime had changed dramatically in the intervening period and you may win or lose a bit on NI depending on how the �1000 in one month affected your pay versus the various threshholds there are in the NI calc. If the repayment is made outside payroll then they should (at the time) quote you a lower figure to take account of the tax and NI you've paid.

[fideldyfee]

Thanks very much dundurn!