[hedora]

The tax rates will probably not be what most people consider "ordinary". In CA, the top marginal bracket is about 52%.

If you're getting N years of windfall-level income in one year, some of the income is likely to be in that top bracket. This means that all sorts of tax stragegies you probably are not familiar with will kick in.

For instance, it might make sense to move charitable contributions into that year, since the IRS will effectively be matching them.

Also, AMT will probably kick in, so consider hiring an accountant.