Everyone's talking about the tax implications but nobody mentioned the withholding! When my company got acquired, they withheld at a flat 22% which wasn't enough for my tax bracket. I got absolutely destroyed the next April with a huge tax bill plus underpayment penalties. Make sure your employer is withholding enough or set aside like 35-40% of the payout for taxes depending on your bracket. Seriously, the surprise tax bill was devastating.

This is exactly the situation I'm dreading. My acquisition is closing in about 6 weeks and I've been assuming the company would handle withholding properly. I'm definitely in a higher bracket than 22% when you add this payout to my regular salary. Did you end up having to make quarterly estimated payments to avoid penalties in future situations? I'm wondering if I should proactively send estimated payments to the IRS once I know the exact payout amount, rather than waiting until next April and getting hit with underpayment penalties on top of everything else. Also, for anyone else reading this - definitely worth running the numbers on what tax bracket you'll be in with the additional income. A $65K payout could easily push someone from the 22% bracket into 32% or even higher depending on their regular salary and filing status.

I work in payroll and see this confusion all the time. Stock options and RSUs trigger mandatory supplemental income withholding rules. The 45% you're seeing is actually the correct combined withholding when you add up ALL the different taxes: Federal supplemental rate (22%) + State supplemental rate (varies, but often 9-13% for higher income states) + FICA (7.65%) + Additional Medicare Tax if applicable (0.9%) + Local taxes where applicable + Any mandatory retirement withholding your company might have. Many employees think they're being overtaxed, but this is actually protecting you from owing a large sum when you file your return. The alternative would be underwithholding, leading to a surprise tax bill plus possible penalties.

This is definitely frustrating, but unfortunately that withholding rate is pretty standard for stock compensation. I went through the same shock when I exercised my options last year. The key thing to understand is that stock options are treated as "supplemental income" which has different withholding rules than your regular salary. Even though you're normally taxed at 24%, supplemental income gets hit with: - 22% federal supplemental rate (flat rate regardless of your normal bracket) - 6.2% Social Security tax - 1.45% Medicare tax - Your state income tax rate (which can be substantial) - Possibly local taxes depending on where you live When you add all those up, 45% total withholding is actually pretty typical, especially if you're in a state with higher income taxes. The silver lining is that this is just withholding - not your actual tax liability. When you file your return next year, you'll calculate what you actually owe based on your total income for the year. If they over-withheld (which they probably did), you'll get the excess back as a refund. I'd recommend getting a detailed breakdown from your payroll department so you can see exactly where that 45% went. It should all add up to legitimate tax withholdings.

I can see there's been a lot of confusion around this topic, but everyone here is absolutely correct - the unemployment exclusion was only for 2020. As someone who works in tax preparation, I want to emphasize a few key points for anyone else reading this thread: 1. The $10,200 unemployment exclusion was a one-time COVID relief measure that applied ONLY to unemployment received in 2020 2. For 2023 unemployment benefits, report the full amount from Box 1 of your 1099-G 3. If taxes were withheld (Box 4 of the 1099-G), those will be credited toward your tax liability 4. Ohio follows federal tax treatment, so no special state considerations needed @Jordan Walker - you're safe to file now. There's no benefit to waiting, and you might be missing out on getting your refund sooner. The tax software will handle this correctly when you enter your 1099-G information.

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who also received unemployment in 2023. I initially made the same mistake of thinking there might be an exclusion available, but after researching thoroughly, I can confirm what everyone else has said - the $10,200 exclusion was definitely only for 2020. I ended up owing about $800 in additional taxes on my unemployment benefits, but fortunately I had some tax withheld during the year which helped. One tip: if your fiancé didn't have taxes withheld from his unemployment payments, you might want to set aside some money now or consider making an estimated payment to avoid owing too much at filing time. The good news is that once you file, you'll have certainty instead of wondering. And if you're due a refund from other sources, filing sooner means getting that money back faster. Don't let the confusion around old COVID rules delay getting your taxes done!

Just to add another perspective, there are legitimate organizations called fiscal sponsors who sometimes act as intermediaries for donations to projects that don't have their own 501(c)(3) status. But in those cases, the fiscal sponsor IS the 501(c)(3), and they're the ones providing your tax receipt. What you're describing sounds different and potentially problematic. A for-profit entity generally can't pass tax deductibility through to you - that's not how tax law works.

Just wanted to chime in as someone who's dealt with questionable donation schemes before. The setup you're describing has several major warning signs that would make me walk away immediately: 1. **The tax deduction claim is almost certainly wrong.** As others have mentioned, you can only deduct donations made directly to qualified 501(c)(3) organizations. Paying a for-profit company first breaks that direct relationship, even if they eventually pass the money along. 2. **The "same name" charity they created is a huge red flag.** This sounds like they're intentionally trying to create confusion about which entity is receiving your money. Legitimate organizations are very clear about their tax status and don't create similarly-named entities across different tax structures. 3. **The voting mechanism seems designed to give you a false sense of control** while they maintain actual control over where funds go and likely take fees off the top. My advice: run the other way. If you want to donate to charity, pick causes you care about and donate directly. You'll get proper tax documentation, 100% of your money will go to the cause, and you won't risk getting tangled up in what sounds like a sketchy tax arrangement. There are plenty of legitimate ways to research and support charities without going through questionable middlemen.

Check if you had any life changes that might affect your tax situation: marriage status, dependents, additional income sources, etc. Also, did you get any advance payments for tax credits last year that you didn't get this year? Those can make a huge difference in your refund amount. Another thing to consider: did you have any investment income or capital gains? Those are taxed differently and could explain the change.

Has anyone checked if there were changes to the tax withholding tables for 2024/2025? I remember this happened a few years back and suddenly everyone's refunds were different even though their situations hadn't changed.