Employer paid me before I started work in 2025, made me repay the gross amount in 2026, zeroed out my w2c. How do I get my taxes back?
Hoping someone can help me untangle this situation. I’m on a US work visa and started legally working at my employer on January 1, 2026.
Here’s the timeline:
- Oct 25, 2025 — Employer accidentally paid me before I was legally authorized to work (around $3000 net)
- Jan 1, 2026 — Officially started work
- Jan 30, 2026 — Received a W-2 that incorrectly included the Oct wages. I was not employed during 2025 by this company so I should’ve not have received a W2. I report it.
- Feb 20, 2026 — Did a payroll reversal and had to pay back the gross amount (which included ~$1500 in taxes that were withheld) so I paid around $4500 back which puts me at $1500 out of pocket
- March 1, 2026 — Received a W-2C showing $0 wages and $0 taxes withheld
My problem: I paid back the full gross amount, but I only ever received a fraction of it as a direct deposit (the net after tax). So I personally funded $1500 in taxes, social security and Medicare wages out of pocket to complete the reversal.
My questions:
- how do I get the tax, social security and Medicare back? Does updating my W2C to zero out everything correct even though I had to repay the tax + social security in the following year?
