BRITTNEY SAUNDERS: INFLUENCER REVEALS HER ENORMOUS SIX-FIGURE TAX BILL AFTER ADMITTING SHE 'DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO PAY TAXES' WHEN STARTING HER CAREER

An Australian influencer has been hit with a staggering $100,000 tax bill after not knowing how taxes worked at the beginning of her career.

Brittney Saunders, 31, is now a multimillionaire after starting her size-inclusive fashion label Fayt.

Speaking on her podcast Big Business with Brittney Saunders, she said there was a period in her early 20s where she hadn't paid her taxes in over two years.

'I didn't know how it worked, I was so used to working my Monday to Friday full-time job and getting my pay slip every week and seeing the tax being taken out. And then all of a sudden, I'm working for myself at 21 years old, I didn't know how tax worked,' she admitted.

The YouTube vlogger added she didn't have a 'supportive family network' who knew about self employment.

'No one ever taught me about money, or how to save or tax or anything like that,' she said.

'So, for around two years, when I was an influencer and earning all this money, I just simply didn't pay tax. Because when you own your own business, or you're working for yourself.

'I didn't know how I was meant to pay tax, like, how do you do that? What do you genuinely do? Because when you're getting paid as a self employed person and you've got payments coming in, the money just goes into your account and that's it! 

'Then you have to work out how you're going to pay tax on that. You don't pay tax every week the way that employees do. You have to collect [the money] all together, and then have an accountant, process that for you for the end of financial year.'

Brittney said she finally enlisted an accountant after growing concern for her finances and received a phone call from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the outstanding payments, and was told she owed a whopping $100,000.

'I owed $100,000. And I'm in my early 20s. And I owe $100,000. Which, in saying that, I know that's a crazy amount. But if you're owing that amount, you're earning quite a decent amount,' she said. 

Brittney explained she went on a payment plan to pay back the amount and paid it off 'a lot quicker' than expected thanks to some savings in her account.

'When you're in debt to the tax man the interest that you get charged is like 12.5 per cent or something. So I owed $100,000 and was paying 12.5 per cent interest. So I paid it a lot quicker than I was supposed to,' she added.

She said it was an important life lesson at an earlier point in her career.

'That was a great lesson for me in my early 20s and something that I will never forget. I remember I felt sick over it, owing that amount of money and just having to pay it down,' she said. 

'But it was a great lesson for me to be more smart with my money and have my finances in order.'

Brittney is originally from Newcastle but now spends most of her time in Sydney tending to her businesses and speaking on podcasts.  

Her label Fayt offers clothing in a wide variety of sizes and high-quality fabrics, with sizes ranging from 6 to 24.

Brittney is also the proud CEO of Staple Swim, Form Active, Fayt The Store, Outdo Collective and Outdo Espresso.

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2024-07-02T01:02:08Z dg43tfdfdgfd