Main points
- Elon Musk said he could pay trillions in taxes due to the high compensation he could receive from Tesla.
- Musk's compensation package for 2025 is estimated at $158.4 billion, and total compensation could grow to $1 trillion.
Elon Musk said he would pay “trillions of dollars in taxes” / Bloomberg/Getty Images
Elon Musk is back in the spotlight after a high-profile tax filing and new details about Tesla's potentially astronomical compensation, saying he'll “probably pay trillions.”
How much tax does Elon Musk already pay?
The businessman said that in just one year he paid over $10 billion in taxes, Max reported on the social network X.
If I exercise and sell the stock options, the combined federal and state income tax will be about 45%,
– said Musk.
He also added that he continues to pay taxes in California for the days he spent in the state. Musk also said that after his death, an additional 40% tax will be applied to his estate. Thus, he “will probably end up paying trillions in taxes.”
How can Elon Musk's income grow?
Recent Tesla documents showed that Musk's compensation package for 2025 is valued at $158.4 billion for accounting purposes, Stocktwits writes.
However, total compensation could grow much higher—potentially to $1 trillion over the next decade. The payouts are tied to the company's very ambitious goals. These include:
- increasing Tesla's market capitalization to $8.5 trillion;
- production of 20 million cars per year;
- launch of 1 million robotaxi;
- sales of 1 million Optimus robots.
Tesla clarified that the package is divided into 12 stages, and Musk will receive compensation only after achieving the required indicators.
By the way, company documents indicate that Musk currently owns 717.1 million Tesla shares . This is approximately 20% of the company after taking into account certain changes in the compensation structure.
Tesla also said Musk could control more than 20% of the votes after exercising his options.
Watch out! New data on Elon Musk's compensation shows just how big his business ambitions have become. Tesla, SpaceX and xAI are already going far beyond traditional car or space companies, forming a single technology ecosystem around artificial intelligence, robotics and space. At the same time, gigantic valuations and trillion-dollar bonuses only intensify discussions about the risks, impact and future of Musk's empire.
What is known about Elon Musk's Tesla tax evasion?
Tesla, owned by Elon Musk, likely used a mechanism to shift profits abroad, which allowed it to significantly reduce tax payments in the United States, Reuters writes.
In January, Tesla released an annual report indicating that its federal tax liability in the US for 2025 was zero . According to Reuters, the company has reported no tax debt to the US government almost every year for the past two decades, despite total revenue of $264 billion.
Among the reasons were:
- tax deductions due to past losses;
- state benefits for “green” energy.
While analyzing the documents, journalists drew attention to another mechanism – profit shifting. This involves the use of subsidiaries in the Netherlands and Singapore.
According to regulators, these divisions received about $18 billion in profits that were not taxed in the countries of registration. Experts suggest that Tesla may have transferred rights to patents, technologies and know-how to foreign subsidiaries.
As a result, part of the income was no longer registered in the US, but in jurisdictions with more favorable tax conditions.
It is exclusively about transferring profits to low-tax jurisdictions,
– said University of Michigan professor Reuven Avi-Yona.
Reuters notes that Tesla mentioned so-called “cost-sharing arrangements” in its 2015 report. These are mechanisms often used by international corporations to transfer part of their profits abroad.
The story also drew attention because Elon Musk himself has previously repeatedly stated the large amounts of taxes he personally pays. However, the new data raises questions about how the tax burden is optimized within his business empire.
The company's documents for 2025 state that:
- 90% of Tesla's global profits came from the US;
- in the previous five years, this figure was only 27%.
Experts suggest that the company may have changed its international taxation structure.
Latest news about Elon Musk
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Elon Musk has launched a new messenger called XChat, which is now available in the App Store for iOS, with an Android version coming later. XChat offers end-to-end encryption, message deletion, voice and video calls, and a number of other features.
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Errol Musk, Elon Musk's father, attended the Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow with Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Musk sat on a stool during the service, which may be explained by his age of 79 and the length of the service.