Mark Zuckerberg Owes Uncle Sam $1B in Tax Bills [PHOTOS]

Facebook founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg could be facing a $1B in tax bill as he files his 2012 tax return at the IRS this year. The staggering amount resulted from Zuckerberg’s move to go public in May last year to increase his stake in the world’s first successful social media company.

“On the day of Facebook’s initial public offering, Zuckerberg exercised a stock option and purchased 60 million Facebook shares at a “strike price” of 6 cents each,” said The Inquistr, adding that the IRS “treats those shares as ordinary income.”

According to reports, Zuckerberg’s overall tax rate is estimated at 50-percent. His tax returns however, has remained confidential. But judging by the publicized offering last year, it is believed that the 28-year old billionaire may have to slash a billion of his riches to pay Uncle Sam.

“For Zuckerberg, that means reporting income last year of nearly $2.3 billion from his stock options alone. Add together the top 2012 federal tax rate of 35% and the top California rate of 13.3% — the highest in the nation — and you get a total tax rate of 48.3%,” the report said.

Zuckerberg had reportedly sold off 30 million Facebook shares at the Facebook IPO last year. Proceeds from this sale however, is likely to be used to pay for the tax bill Zuckerberg may be forced to write a check for. This has raised the businessminded ones to ask why not buy of the 30 millions shares instead of purchasing 60.

Celebritynet.worh has the answer. It said: “The reason lies with the types of shares that Mark was buying. Facebook has two “classes” of shares, Class A and Class B. Every Class B share has 10 times the voting power of a Class A share. In essence, Mark traded 30 million votes for for the right to have 600 million votes. These new shares have given Mark 58% of the voting rights at Facebook, guaranteeing that he will always be in charge.”

There you have it. Looks like paying off Uncle Sam is Mark’s next best move.

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