Thank you all for the discussion and the feedback! Hopefully, the situation is not as complicated as I may have made it sound. I simply received a promotion bonus in 2019 of $40,000 pre-tax. I quit my job in 2019 to travel and, therefore, have had no income since then and will have no income for the year of 2020. I was required to repay this bonus to my old employer at the pre-tax amount ($40,000) because I left within one year of receiving the bonus. I made this $40,000 repayment in January 2020 despite only receiving the net ~$24,000 in 2019.
So, I am hoping to recover most of the overpaid ~$16,000 if I file a return/claim of right for the year 2020.
Hopefully, my tax adviser will be able to assist the mechanics of how to complete the relevant paperwork.
