and...billions on the way for this Facebook founder, Eduardo Saverin, because of the Facebook IPO,
and he has renounced his US citizenship and become a citizen of Singapore.
The story from Bloomberg
Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion through the IPO, the biggest in history for an Internet company. Saverin’s stake is about 4 percent, according to the website Who Owns Facebook. At the high end of the IPO valuation, that would be worth about $3.84 billion. His holdings aren’t listed in Facebook’s regulatory filings.
“Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time,” said Tom Goodman, a spokesman for Saverin, in an e-mailed statement.
Saverin’s name is on a list of people who chose to renounce citizenship as of April 30, published by the Internal Revenue Service. Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship “around September” of last year, according to his spokesman.
Singapore doesn’t have a capital gains tax. It does tax income earned in that nation, as well as “certain foreign-sourced income,” according to a government website on tax policies there.
Saverin won’t escape all U.S. taxes. Americans who give up their citizenship owe what is effectively an exit tax on thecapital gains from their stock holdings, even if they don’t sell the shares, said Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, director of the international tax program at the University of Michigan’s law school. For tax purposes, the IRS treats the stock as if it has been sold.
Renouncing your citizenship well in advance of an IPO is“a very smart idea,” from a tax standpoint, said Avi-Yonah.“Once it’s public you can’t fool around with the value.”
Meanwhile, the rest of us won't even be able to get any facebook shares in the IPO.