BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk will have to pay about $11 billion in federal taxes in 2021. However, Tesla does not have to pay federal taxes.
CNN reported on the 10th that in retrospect, Musk was good at using the US tax law and did not pay or pay very little federal personal income tax.
He doesn't get paid from Tesla, he only gets options. Under U.S. tax law, he doesn't have to pay taxes on those options unless he exercises them and buys Tesla stock at a very low price. Most of his options have not yet been exercised, but last year he began exercising his bid to buy shares, and these newly acquired stocks bring him $23.5 billion in taxable wealth in 2021, at a federal tax rate of 41 percent.
In addition, the income from the sale of some Tesla shares last year is also taxed.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. of the United States (photographed on September 29, 2017). (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Yan Han)
CNN also reported that although last year was the most profitable year since Tesla was founded, Tesla will not have to pay federal taxes for the foreseeable future. In 2021, Tesla's net profit was $5.5 billion.
However, a filing filed by Tesla with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Tesla's operations in the United States lost $130 million before taxes last year. While 45 percent of Tesla's revenue comes from the U.S., all pre-tax profits come from overseas operations, the filing said.
Tesla data shows it pays $839 million in taxes overseas, $9 million in state taxes in the United States, and zero in federal taxes.
On January 9, 2020, at the 98th Brussels Motor Show in Belgium, a staff member touched the eagle wing door of a Tesla Model X car. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Zheng Huansong)
CNN quoted tax analyst Martin Sullivan as saying, "It's against common sense, but it's not against U.S. tax law." ”
Sullivan believes that Tesla's operations in the United States lost $130 million last year, which is related to the common operation of multinational companies in the United States, that is, to adjust the structure of operations so that overseas branches report profits, while making the U.S. business almost or no profitable.
For example, companies can transfer intellectual property to overseas branches and make U.S. businesses pay for the use of that intellectual property. These overseas branches will be very profitable as a result, while U.S. businesses will lose money or make little money because of the "costs" they bear.
Tesla first reported generating net profit in 2020, after losing more than 10 years, those are real losses. (Bu Xiaoming)