The billionaire founder of Tesla Inc., Elon Musk has disclosed that he will be paying over $ 11 billion for taxes this year.
This was disclosed by Musk in a tweet on Monday while confirming to the public his exact tax bills.
“For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year,” Musk tweeted.
Due to massive bills on his Tesla stock options, Musk faces a hefty tax bill from the government — what market analysts said could be the biggest in US history.
Musk exercised almost 15 million options and sold millions of shares to cover the taxes related to these transactions, resulting in an unusually high tax levy.
Recall that Tesla sold about $5 billion worth of Tesla’s shares – just days after he polled Twitter users about selling 10 percent of his stake.
Additionally, he predicted that the tax rate would rise next year.
Musk’s fortune is heavily reliant on Tesla — which topped $937 billion on Friday and SpaceX valued at 100 billion after a funding round some months ago.
Musk said he does not take a cash salary or bonus, so “the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.”
