My company recently accepted to relocate me back to Japan from the US. Company agreed to cover some shipping, flight tickets, taxis and also the penalty I paid to exit my apartment lease early.
Now they are reimbursing me without taxes all these costs (paid by me in advance), but want to reimburse the lease penalty as a bonus, so incurring in direct taxes and increasing my total salary for this year in Japan (and with that, my next year residence taxes).
To me this is nonsense, for the simple reason that it’s not a bonus (I paid in advance for that) and even as a benefit it should be taxable only for the amount that results in a monetary gain for me (I have no gains in this case).
Penalties I paid have supported documentation as per standard reimbursements going through an accountable reimbursement plan.
Did someone have to deal with this kind of things and can tell me if I’m wrong?