Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, whom you may remember portrayed as the disgruntled friend of Mark Zuckerberg’s who smashes his laptop in The Social Network, has officially renounced his U.S. citizenship — and joined the tiny nation of Singapore.
As first reported by Bloomberg, Saverin’s name is on a Federal register called the Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Repatriate. That means he renounced citizenship before April 30, according to the IRS.
“Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time,” Saverin’s spokesman told Bloomberg in an email. He said the switch happened “around September.”
Why do it? One word: taxes. With Facebook’s IPO approaching, the 30-year-old Saverin stands to become a very rich man indeed. He owns around 4% of a company that is set to be valued in the range of $100 billion. (And that’s his share after it was diluted by Zuckerberg and Co, which was the reason for that smashed laptop.)
The high-tech Asian powerhouse of Singapore isn’t just a nice place to settle — it also doesn’t have any capital gains tax.
Saverin will still have to give some cash to Uncle Sam in the form of an exit tax, which looks at potential capital gains on stock that hasn’t been sold.
Would you renounce your citizenship in Saverin’s position? Should billionaires pony up and pay more in capital gains? Let us know your take in the comments.
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