One Of Facebook Founder Takes Up Residency
Sunday, 13th May 2012
Eduardo Saverin, one of the founders of Facebook.com, took up a more tax-friendly residency status in Singapore. Mr. Saverin was living in Singapore since 2010 and plans to remain here "indefinitely". He was born to a wealthy family in Brazil and gained American citizenship at the age of 17 in 1998. He then renounced his American citizenship after holding it for twelve years.
Thirty year-old Saverin, co-founded Facebook while at Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, all of whom remain United States citizens. At one time Mr. Saverin owned about 34 percent of the company, but his shares were severely diluted during several financing rounds, leading to a lawsuit that was settled out of court with undisclosed terms. He now owns less than 5 percent of Facebook, but he is expected to be worth over $3.5 billion. He has reportedly sold over $250 million of Facebook stock recently. Singapore has a maximum personal income tax rate of 20% and NO taxes on capital gains or income earned outside Singapore. Plus no limit, and no questions ask, on how much money one can bring into Singapore.
Which meant that he probably do not have to pay any Singapore tax if he plans to live off his pasted earning. Eduardo Saverin insisted that he did not renounce his citizenship for financial reasons. As a Singapore resident, he is also entitled to purchase low-cost government subsidised HDB Flats. Way to go, Eduardo!