Paul L. Caron
Dean





Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Jeff Bezos Will Save Billions In Taxes By Moving To Miami

The Messenger, Jeff Bezos Will Save Billions on His Tax Bills by Moving to Miami:

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is escaping more than Seattle’s gloomy weather with his cross-country move to sunny Miami.

The world’s third-richest person, worth roughly $161 billion according to Forbes, will also ditch Washington State’s hefty taxes, likely saving him billions of dollars over the long term, according to securities filings, tax lawyers and accounting experts.

Aaron Johnson, a tax lawyer at law firm Lane Powell in Seattle, told The Messenger that Bezos “stands to benefit from significant tax savings if he changes his domicile.”

On the immediate front, The Washington Post newspaper owner will avoid Washington State’s controversial new 7% tax on investment profits, which residents began paying this year.

Later, Bezos will dodge the Pacific Northwest state’s long-standing top estate tax of 20%, the highest in the nation.

Robert Willens, an independent tax and accounting expert in New York, told The Messenger that Bezos will “adroitly sidestep Washington's estate tax levies, which, in his case, could easily amount to upwards of $32 billion” based on his current net worth. The tax, which is in addition to the top federal estate tax of 40%, hits fortunes starting at just over $2.1 million. ...

One lure he didn’t mention in his announcement: massive tax savings.

Last but not least, Bezos will remove himself from the crosshairs of state lawmakers’ efforts to impose a 1% “extreme wealth tax” on the worldwide holdings of the very richest residents. If passed into law, the levy would hit billionaires on the paper value of their assets, regardless of whether or not they’ve been sold.

When the 59-year-old announced Nov. 2 on Instagram that he was leaving his Seattle home base of three decades for Florida, he said the impetus for the move had come from a desire to be closer to his parents, who he said recently relocated back to Miami from Seattle. He also said the operations of his Blue Origins rocket company were “increasingly shifting” to Cape Canaveral, Fla., a three and a half hour drive 190 miles north of Miami. 

One lure he didn’t mention in his announcement: massive tax savings.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2023/11/jeff-bezos-will-save-billions-in-taxes-by-moving-to-miami.html

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