MOS Bonus... does this sound right?

[Requiem]

Hey, gents, I'm with the USMC Reserves and I got to my unit a couple months back. I had a MOS bonus in my contract that I was to receive upon achieving my MOS and arriving to my unit. 3 months later now it got deposited. What I found was so surprising was that out of a bonus of $20,000 the government kept about 31% of that. Meaning I got a little less than $14,000. Does this sound right to anyone? I kind of have a mind to call DFAS and ask them wtf?

[Japedo]

Yup that is what happens, you will be able to recover some of it next year when you file your taxes. When most people reenlist they request to go to one of the overseas deployments and reenlist to get their money tax free.

[smokingloon]

I have heard that bonuses get taxed heavily. I know when I got out i sold back 50 days and the government got a good chunk of it.

[pjmeado]

Yeah that is the going tax rate for bonuses. Next time, if you re-enlist and get a bonus for it, do it while deployed and it will be tax-free

[Mason McDuffie]

Gotta get their cut,

I just got a re-sign bonus for 20 and in actuality I will probably be getting close to 14 with some change. Now had we signed up while in the sand box or anywhere outside of the US we would have gotten all 20 to ourselves. It sucks I know, could be worse though, we could be AIG and getting our asses handed to us.

I'm also not sure if it goes state by state. I think its just a blanket thing. 20 would be nice, but 14 gets me a new furnace and a Desert Eagle so I'm happy. Be easy brotha and keep the sand outta your boots.

[Requiem]

I have heard that bonuses get taxed heavily. I know when I got out i sold back 50 days and the government got a good chunk of it.

Speak of which, how do I do that? Sell leave back?

Well at least I know I'm not the only one getting screwed...

[smokingloon]

You get to sell it back when you EAS. I went down to CPAC and we went over my DD214. You will let the admin personnel how many days you want to sell.

You will have to figure out if you want to take terminal leave. If so, how many days will your unit sign off on.

[Mason McDuffie]

Make sure you ask your command about selling back leave. I kinda got shafted my first go around and was forced to use my days. I had already gotten rid of my apartment and everything. Check with your command. But using terminal leave can also work to your benefit if your collecting off base pay. Just a thought.

[Vapor]

Hey, gents, I'm with the USMC Reserves and I got to my unit a couple months back. I had a MOS bonus in my contract that I was to receive upon achieving my MOS and arriving to my unit. 3 months later now it got deposited. What I found was so surprising was that out of a bonus of $20,000 the government kept about 31% of that. Meaning I got a little less than $14,000. Does this sound right to anyone? I kind of have a mind to call DFAS and ask them wtf?

Yeah thats exactly what happened to me. 20k bonus turned out to be 13.7 after taxes. got it back in oct. My tax return was nice but only got around 3500 back and that included all of my active duty training. post back up if u talk to dfas. but im sure its correct. whats ur mos? i got it for 0352 and my reserve unit doesnt even have tows anymore so i get to be an 11

[Maddog5150]

Congratz. You just got royally raped by the gubberment. I got a 20g sign in bonus when I got back from jump school being mos qualified. I got 13 and some change. You will go postal when you do your tax return also. Enjoy

[SDJim]

Hey, gents, I'm with the USMC Reserves and I got to my unit a couple months back. I had a MOS bonus in my contract that I was to receive upon achieving my MOS and arriving to my unit. 3 months later now it got deposited. What I found was so surprising was that out of a bonus of $20,000 the government kept about 31% of that. Meaning I got a little less than $14,000. Does this sound right to anyone? I kind of have a mind to call DFAS and ask them wtf?

Because the pay people can't sit down with everyone and calculate what the correct withholding should be, they just hit you for 25-30% saying you'll get the excess withholding back at the end of the year . . . Get used to it.

[UncleSamsMisguidedChild]

You should consider yourself lucky to be offered a bonus at all, when my EAS came up they wanted me to reenlist for FREE! I told them the only way I would reenlist was if I could LAT move to the MOS I originally wanted when I joined, they told me it was full and I didnt qualify. Oh well their loss not mine, I got out at the perfect time in 2002 right before the Iraq war started