Wheeha
A brief recap of bizarre events.
Last July, I started working at a new company. They gave me stock options upon joining.
In April and May, an Italian company acquired the company. They offered to compensate each person on staff for their stock options. It wasn't an absurd amount of money, but it was an absurd amount of money for something I had done literally nothing to earn.
In June, I find out my contract's not being renewed, but I'm still getting that bonus money.
Within 24 hours, it occurs to me that I might qualify for a permanent residence visa next year, thanks to the amount of money I will make from the bonus, so that becomes my new plan.
At the end of June, I go to the tax office and get one of the documents I will need to get next year, which shows my income for the previous year. I can't get the relevant document until next year, but getting this sample document for last year proves to be super important.
At the beginning of July, I stop by my former company to return my equipment and I mention, oh hey, it is really important to me for this bonus money to show up on this income form from the tax office. It is worth noting that at this point we have not been paid the bonus yet, for some reason.
The original plan that everyone else, including me, had agreed to was to accept the bonus in a retirement plan. This somehow avoids the bonus getting taxed to shit.
However, it turns out I can only get the bonus to show up in the income form if I receive the money directly, thus having it get taxed to shit.
So now I will be losing some of the absurd money I did nothing to earn, thanks to taxation, in order to guarantee I will have it on record as part of my income, so that I can meet the threshold to apply for permanent residence next year.
Wheeha.