A Reuters analysis of documents shows that Tesla, the company of the world’s richest man Elon Musk, is using a common corporate tactic known as profit shifting, which has likely saved it more than $400 million in U.S. taxes.
A Reuters analysis of documents shows that Tesla, the company of the world’s richest man Elon Musk, is using a common corporate tactic known as profit shifting, which has likely saved it more than $400 million in U.S. taxes.
According to the publication, a review of corporate documents revealed that Tesla’s divisions in the Netherlands and Singapore have made $18 billion in profits in recent years that were not taxed in those countries.
«Without this financial maneuver, this profit would likely have been declared and taxed in the United States,» the agency concludes .
Reuters analysts and journalists reviewed thousands of pages of documents filed with regulators by Tesla and its subsidiaries in 14 countries in Europe, Asia and North America.
The news agency also interviewed more than 20 stock market analysts, automotive industry consultants, academics and tax experts, all of whom agreed that the agency’s findings and its calculations regarding Tesla’s apparent offshore profit shifting are realistic.
At the same time, Reuters found no indication that Tesla’s tax practices violate any laws.
«This practice, although controversial, is a common maneuver by which multinational corporations exploit loopholes in tax law to save money by shifting profits from one jurisdiction to another with more favorable tax rules,» the article notes.
Regulatory filings show that Tesla has declared much higher tax liabilities abroad in recent years than in the United States, even though sales in the U.S. market have historically dominated its revenue and still account for about half of its turnover.
As dev.ua wrote, the fuel crisis triggered record sales of electric vehicles in Europe.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s fortune reached a record $788 billion this year.
