‘Cry myself to sleep’: 26-year-old in tears over giant tax bill

A young Aussie has shared her distress after being stung with a massive tax bill. But the reaction online wasn’t all sympathetic.

A young Aussie has announced she’ll be crying herself to sleep after being stung with an eye-watering tax bill.

Talia Batiste, 26, is an OnlyFans creator who posted on social media that the ATO has slapped her with a bill for $71,008.45 – to be exact.

“For everyone that likes to make sure I’m paying my tax. I’m going to go and cry myself to sleep now,” she wrote.

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Talia Batiste shared the massive bill online. Picture: TikTok/tailamaddison

The OnlyFans creator explained she thinks Aussies pay too much tax. Picture: TikTok/tailamaddison

Ms Batiste’s distress over the giant bill drew a mixed reaction online.

“Absolutely robbery,” one wrote.

“To pay that much tax you earn a sh**load. No sympathy tax is a sliding scale. The more you earn, the more you pay back to society,” another said.

“I hope you have a good accountant to get you those tax deductions. That being said, paying that amount of tax is really a testament that you’ve done well financially,” someone else said.

“About $5000 less tax than I pay it’s heartbreaking,” one sympathised.

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She finds it hard having to pay so much tax. Picture: TikTok/tailamaddison

The content creator said she had an even bigger tax bill last year. Picture: TikTok/tailamaddison

Speaking to news.com.au, Ms Batiste said this year’s debt wasn’t too bad, and she’d definitely dealt with it worse before.

The 26-year-old said when she first started making explicit content online, an accountant put her down as a sole trader rather than advising her to register as a business, which ended up being a financial nightmare.

In retrospect, she guessed the accountant wasn’t “accounting for how much money I could potentially make,” she explained.

“So when I make $400,000+ a year it looks like that is my personal income. Rather than money going back into a business.

“Now I am set up as a business, and I earn a modest salary while the rest of the money goes towards business expenses,” she said.

Ms Batiste earns $400,000+ per year. Picture: TikTok/tailamaddison

While Ms Batiste claimed it “never gets easier” to pay that much tax online, she said that she was at least prepared for this bill.

“I ended up getting some great advice and sorting it all out so now I am ahead and prepared. Last year my tax was $136k,” she revealed.

The 26-year-old added that even though she’s been planning for the bill, that doesn’t mean she’s happy about having to pay it. She said she believes that “everybody” pays too much tax in Australia.

“It’s so disheartening to see your business thrive and know that you’re going to get a big fat bill eventually,” she said.

“No matter how prepared I am, it is always nerve-racking to know that my savings is going to take a big hit.”

Ms Batiste said that even though she has always been sensible and paid off her debt as soon as she could, it never feels great watching the money leave her account.

“Hitting send on that ATO payment hurts every time,” she said.

Originally published as ‘Cry myself to sleep’: 26-year-old in tears over giant tax bill