Elon Musk says his tax bill will be $11 billion

If you are worried about how much you owe in taxes when filing returns, Elon Musk feels your pain.

Musk, the world’s wealthiest person with a net worth of $243 billion as of Sunday, faces a tax bill of nearly $11 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Earlier this month, he was named Time magazine’s person of the year.

Musk, who wrapped up a busy year of trading his Tesla shares Tuesday to meet his tax bill, tweeted as much on Dec. 19.

“For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes,” the Tesla CEO tweeted.

For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021

The majority of Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla and his rocket company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., according to The Wall Street Journal.

Musk exercised options on Tuesday to buy another 1.6 million shares of Tesla and then sold 934,090 of the shares to cover the tax on that purchase, CNN reported.

That completed the exercise of 22.9 million options he held since 2012 that were due to expire in August, CNBC reported. Musk sold off 10.3 million of those shared to cover his tax withholding requirements, according to CNN.

Musk is compensated in stock awards and does not accept a cash salary from Tesla, according to The Wall Street Journal. When he wants cash, he can borrow money using his Tesla stock as collateral, CNBC reported.

Earlier this year, ProPublica published an investigation that revealed Musk and several other billionaires paid no federal income taxes in 2018.

Between 2014 and 2018, Musk paid $455 million in taxes on $1.52 billion of income, according to ProPublica. His wealth grew by $13.9 billion over that period, according to CNBC.

Musk could have waited until 2022 to exercise the stock options, but he faced the risk of a higher tax bill -- 8 percentage points higher than 2021 -- if Congress passed President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation, CNN reported.

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