TaxAlly — Lesson: Put it all together (the Big Year)

Module 16 · ☕

Put it all together — the Big Year

The capstone. When you have an unusually high-income year, the lessons stop being separate — you stack them, and the saving compounds.

1The idea

In a year with a big one-off — a bonus, an asset sale, a redundancy payout, a strong year in business — your top dollars are taxed at the highest rate you'll ever pay. That's painful, but it's also the opportunity: every dollar you can legally move out of that top slice is saved at 39% or 47%.

So a Big Year is when you stack the moves — super, deductions, and capital-gains timing together — to pull your taxable income back down. Done in the right order, the levers reinforce each other.

2Who it's for

A year with a spike: a large bonus, selling shares or property at a gain, a business profit, or a redundancy.

Best if you've unused super cap from past years (carry-forward) and can plan before 30 June.

Less relevant in a steady, ordinary income year — the individual lessons cover you there.

3The worked example

You earn $140k and land a $60,000 bonus — that bonus is taxed at ~39–47%, about $24,000 of tax. Stacking three moves in the same year:

Carry-forward super (~$30k, using unused caps)~$7,500

Bring deductions forward (prepay, income protection)~$2,000

Time a capital gain / harvest a loss~$3,000

Stacked saving this year~$12,500

Illustrative only — the real numbers depend on your unused caps, what you can prepay, and your gains. But the shape holds: in a high-rate year, stacked moves save far more than any one alone.

4The stack — built from the lessons you've done

Each move is a lesson you've already met. The Big Year just runs them together:

Carry-forward supersoak up the top-rate income at 15% — biggest single lever Bring deductions forwardprepay deductible costs into this high-rate year Time your capital gainsdefer a sale, hold 12+ months for the discount, or harvest a loss

Order matters — super first (it cuts the highest-rate dollars), then deductions, then gains timing. Getting the sequence right is the skill.

5The honest caveats

This is advice-grade. The right stack depends on your unused caps, prior contributions, and timing — get it wrong and you can breach a cap or mistime a sale.

Carry-forward only works if your total super balance was under $500k and you have unused cap from the last five years. Over ~$250k income, Division 293 trims the benefit.

Most of it must be done before 30 June — you can't stack last year's Big Year in October.

6How to action it

As soon as you know a Big Year is coming, list the levers and your unused super cap (check it in myGov).

Model each move in its lesson's calculator, then sequence them — super, deductions, gains.

This is the one to get a registered agent to sign off — the saving easily covers the fee.

Have a Big Year coming?

A Big Year is where personal, signed advice pays for itself. A registered tax agent can build and sequence the stack for your exact numbers and lodge it correctly.

Book a registered agent Optional 1:1 · additional fee · advice signed by a registered tax agent

That's the course

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General educational information, not personal tax or financial advice. The "Big Year" stack is advice-grade and highly situation-dependent — have it reviewed and signed by a registered tax agent before acting. Figures are illustrative estimates for FY2025-26.