Chapter 16： Meta Investment Company

"According to your situation, just based on your current income, when you file a tax return before April next year, you still need to pay at least $100 million in taxes, but there are many deductions, such as in Hollywood before you. The loss of the film and television company, the interest on the bank loan of Building 666, but even so, the tax you need to pay in the end will be more than 50 million US dollars." Alicia told Chen William.

"Why do I see many people with more assets than me who pay very low taxes, or even pay almost no taxes?" William Chen asked in confusion.

"William, the reason why the tax you need to pay is so high is because these incomes are all the gains from investments made in your own name, so they will be attributed to your personal income, and you will naturally have to pay personal income tax. Most of the rich people now use the The way to legally avoid taxes is to reduce personal income, or even have no income. All income is reflected in the operation of the company, understand?"

Alicia looked at William Chen in front of her and felt that he had no self-awareness of a billionaire at all.

The United States nominally levies extremely high taxes on the rich, with a maximum tax rate of over 45%. But in fact? Rich people can hire an entire team of financial advisors to do legal financial planning for them and avoid most taxes.

In Chen's past life, the news organization ProPublica once investigated that the 25 richest Americans, including Bezos, Bloomberg and Musk, paid only a relatively small amount between 2014 and 2018. Little income tax, and sometimes none at all.

The survey showed that the super-rich paid only a tiny fraction of their wealth in taxes — their collective net worth increased by $401 billion over the period, according to statistics, and paid $13.6 billion in income taxes, "truly The tax rate” is only 3.4%.

"My first suggestion to you is that all future operations and investments must be carried out in the name of the company, so that the income can be deducted from the losses caused by other acquisitions and operations, and your payables can be greatly reduced. tax.

Also, the most common thing for those rich people is to reduce their personal direct income, all your expenses can be carried out through loans, and all the property under your name can be linked to the company, or to the company's Buy real estate or consumer goods such as cars and planes in name, so that the depreciation of these things can deduct part of the taxable income. "

Alicia briefly explained to William Chen: "These are all legal tax avoidance methods, such as those methods used to hide income or transfer wealth through offshore companies. I don't recommend you to use them. The IRS will investigate this aspect in the future. Controls are getting stricter and tighter, and once you are targeted by them, it will be very troublesome.”

"In addition, I don't recommend that you do something outrageous like some rich people. Those rich people who hardly pay taxes, even if their methods are legal, will be closely watched by the IRS. Strict sanctions. So proper taxation is a must, and you have to understand that making money under the umbrella of the United States is bound to fulfill some of the obligations above.”

Regarding her words, William Chen still agrees with her. He still has no opinion on paying some taxes appropriately.

Especially his uncle and grandfather are also important figures in the Donkey Party. Naturally, he is easily targeted by the Elephant Party, so the fewer his weaknesses, the better.

"Okay, Ms. Alicia, after talking with you, I feel that I have benefited a lot. I hope you can plan my investment strategy for me in the future." William Chen extended his hand to Alicia and said.

With an elegant smile on her face, Alicia took his hand and said:

"It's an honor, William. You can call me Alicia in the future. Your business situation is not too complicated now, and I can handle it myself. If the scale of the business expands in the future, it may be necessary to form a special team to deal with it. Your tax problem. But don't worry, I will do my best to make the most suitable choice for you, and it will make you feel good value for money."

Chen William agrees with her words. According to what she said, compared to the taxes and fees that Chen William can save, the remuneration that needs to be paid to her is not worth mentioning.

"Remember my suggestion, William, you'd better quickly register a company to invest in, so as to facilitate the optimization of taxes later." Alicia finally said.

It's easy to register a company. William Chen can just leave this matter to Uncle Tom. As for the name of the company, William Chen thought about it for a while, and suddenly thought of the name Meta, which was later changed to Facebook in his previous life. This name comes from the concept of "Metaverse".

Chen William thought that when he came to this world, isn't it similar to a universe different from his previous life? There are some similarities with the Metaverse, well, Meta Investments, the name is not bad.

After returning home in the evening, William Chen met Tom, and he told William Chen that he had contacted a senior consulting firm to investigate the matter of the New York Observer. Nelson, who was in charge of this matter, would contact William Chen tomorrow. , to inform him of the progress of the investigation.

Regarding this matter, William Chen is not in a hurry. Because from the current point of view, Gared is still focusing on the matter of wanting to acquire his own Building 666, and he should not have the idea of ​​acquiring that newspaper.

"It looks like you have no progress with that Erica, William. Recently, I have been seeing you at home by yourself at night." When Tom was leaving, he suddenly made fun of Chen William.

However, his words made William Chen suddenly realize that since Paris left New York, he seems to have been living this kind of regular life. I really don't know if I should be proud of myself or sad?

In William Chen's sleep, there are always the enchanting figures of different women, sometimes Paris, sometimes other women's faces, familiar but unfamiliar, and turned into Ivanta's sweet smile. , and the charm of the corners of the mouth, uh, isn't that Erica? When the woman who lowered her head raised her head again, what William Chen saw was the smiling face of his previous wife, and he immediately woke up.

Looking at the Vacheron Constantin Heritage watch in his hand, it showed that the time was six o'clock in the morning. This watch was left to him by William Chen's predecessor's father, and the price exceeded 200,000 US dollars. It is said to have been a gift from his mother to his father and was very memorable for both of them.

When he felt like this, William Chen got up from the bed and threw the dirty underwear into the trash can in the bathroom because of the dream last night. After taking a bath, he was ready to go out for a morning run.

After the morning class, William Chen met with someone from a consulting firm that Tom helped him find. Nielsen worked for Deloitte Consulting. Deloitte Consulting was spun off from Deloitte in 2002 and separated from Deloitte Accounting Firm to become a separate company, focusing more on consulting business, and has now become one of the top 3 consulting companies in the world.

Through the other party, William Chen learned that the "New York Observer" was founded in 1987 by the banker and sculptor Arthur Carter. Although the current circulation of this newspaper is only more than 50,000 copies per issue, in New York, In particular, the Manhattan area has an important position and is a must-read newspaper for celebrities.

Just like the TV series "Sex and the City", which has a wide audience in the United States, its original novel was first serialized in this newspaper.

Three years ago, in 2006, Arthur Carter's business was in trouble, not only increased losses, but also accumulated debts, so he intended to sell the "New York Observer" he founded. The main reason is that with the Internet media With the development of , the print media is declining day by day, and the operation of the New York Observer is more and more difficult.

It is said that the annual loss of this newspaper was more than 2 million US dollars at the time, which was the largest loss in his industry, and as Arthur Carter got older, his children had little interest in this newspaper, so he decided to Get ready to sell the newspaper and recoup your losses.

So after months of tug-of-war negotiations, UU Reading www. uukanshu.com, the investment company of Hollywood star Robert De Niro, finally bought the newspaper for $8 million in 2007.

"It now seems that Robert De Niro's operation of the "New York Observer" was a failure. What he cared about at first was the influence of the newspaper. As a well-known movie star, he must have had the idea of ​​political development in the past. So determined to acquire this influential newspaper in New York.

But with the results of his last election campaign not ideal, he was also a little bit unbearable about the newspaper's annual losses of more than $2 million.

Therefore, since last year, he began to reform the newspaper, reducing a lot of serious content, and began to position this newspaper as an objective and fair newspaper that satirizes social reality with witty and humorous strokes, and made changes in the direction of entertainment. A lot of celebrity gossip, which caused dissatisfaction among many "New York Observer" readers. "

Nielsen introduced the recent situation of the newspaper to William Chen: "Since this year, although the number of subscriptions to the newspaper has not declined significantly, it has gradually lost many New York business-class readers. What disappoints Robert De Niro the most is entertainment. The traffic brought by the gossip news has not been converted into advertising revenue, but many traditional advertisers have gradually abandoned the newspaper.

Therefore, it is estimated that the New York Observer's loss this year is likely to reach a new high, with a loss of $1.5 million in the first half of the year alone. What hit the newspaper the most was that Kaplan, the editor-in-chief who had been in the newspaper for more than 10 years, resigned as editor-in-chief two months ago because he was dissatisfied with Robert De Niro's mess. in turmoil. "

"So if I want to buy this newspaper now, is it possible?" William Chen asked.