So I left a job last year that has a vesting period based on time at the company and in the 401(k) that is 20% per year for 5 years to be fully vested. You were unable to join until being employed for a year and only two enrollment periods, January and July. I started in April, so had to wait 15 months until I could contribute. I then left the company in March after a bit under 2 years of employment so my vesting in the 401(k) is only 20% for the profit sharing portion.
My dilemma, as I am beginning to work on my taxes is this and what I need help with. The company made an $18,000 profit sharing contribution about a month after I left into my account, but only 20% of that is vested. What I am trying to determine is if they included that full $18,000 as taxable income in my W-2 (I believe they did based on the fact that it says I earned $65K from 1/1 to 3/8 when my salary was $180K. As $65K for less that 3 months work is over $240K in income and higher than my salary, I am almost certain the full $18K was included in my income and I understand that if I was still employed there and could increase my vesting and eventually get the full amount, but I cannot as I am not there anymore. So my questions are how can I determine if what I assume is accurate as the W-2 does not provide enough detail? When I file taxes is there a way to negate this since I am being taxed on income I can never truly receive? I already spoke with the 401(k) holding company and they verified that even though my balance shows the full amount I can only withdraw what is vested and that will remain that was in the future. So basically I am being taxed on about $14K of income I do not really have and given that I owe a few thousand in taxes now feel this is a big reason why as these amounts are not withheld against so I am taking the full hit of taxes on that $18K.
For those who may understand the issues here better than I, looking for any advice. Am I just stuck with that and no real way to be made whole with regards to taxes, or is there some lesser known tax law that only works in these circumstances that I have not found? I use TurboTax and do my own taxes so no "tax guy" to bounce this off of and I would prefer not to pay someone as I am also worried I may spend hundreds to have someone just tell me "yeah, it sucks but you owe tax on this even though you will never see it".