Advertisement
Singapore markets open in 6 hours 54 minutes

  • Straits Times Index

    3,338.94
    -9.93 (-0.30%)
     

  • S&P 500

    5,277.97
    -5.43 (-0.10%)
     

  • Dow

    38,666.92
    +95.89 (+0.25%)
     

  • Nasdaq

    16,801.56
    -27.11 (-0.16%)
     

  • Bitcoin USD

    70,689.30
    +1,400.54 (+2.02%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,473.11
    +25.95 (+1.79%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    8,232.04
    -30.71 (-0.37%)
     

  • Gold

    2,348.20
    -21.10 (-0.89%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    73.64
    -0.58 (-0.78%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.3160
    -0.0860 (-1.95%)
     

  • Nikkei

    38,837.46
    -85.54 (-0.22%)
     

  • Hang Seng

    18,444.11
    +41.11 (+0.22%)
     

  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,615.40
    +18.72 (+1.17%)
     

  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,099.31
    +63.12 (+0.90%)
     

  • PSE Index

    6,386.42
    -84.32 (-1.30%)
     

Elon Musk says he’ll pay over US$11 billion in taxes this year

Bloomberg
·2-min read
The unusually high taxes comes after Musk exercised almost 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to those transactions.. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and CEO of Tesla, said on Twitter that he’ll pay more than US$11 billion in taxes this year. (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images) (ODD ANDERSEN via Getty Images)

By Katrina Nicholas

(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., said on Twitter that he’ll pay more than US$11 billion in taxes this year, an amount that could constitute a record payment to the US Internal Revenue Service.

The billionaire may face a tax bill of more than US$10 billion for 2021 if he exercises all his options due to expire next year, calculations last week by Bloomberg News showed.

ADVERTISEMENT

The unusually high levy comes after Musk exercised almost 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to those transactions. That was following a Twitter poll last month when he asked followers whether he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric carmaker, whose shares have rocketed more than 2,300% over the past five years.

Since the unusual move to ask Twitter users about the plan, Tesla has declined nearly a quarter and the company’s market value has slid back below the US$1 trillion mark to US$937 billion. The shares were 2.7% lower in premarket trading Monday compared with Friday’s close in New York.

A report by ProPublica in June said Musk paid little income tax relative to his outsize wealth. But he’s pushed back against that characterisation, saying he doesn’t draw a salary from either SpaceX or Tesla, and pays an effective tax rate of 53% on stock options he exercises. He added that he expects that tax rate to increase next year.

Musk earlier this month said he’ll pay more taxes than any American in history this year. That was in response to another tweet from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who used Musk’s Time Magazine “Person of the Year” accolade to call him out on his taxes.

(Updates with premarket share move in fourth paragraph)

—With assistance from Elisabeth Behrmann.

© 2021 Bloomberg L.P.