Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ recent move to Miami will help him save more than $600 million in taxes as he sells more than 50 million shares of Amazon stock over the next year.
Bezos — the second richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — ditched his longtime digs in Seattle last year for a glittering estate on the ultra-exclusive island Indian Creek, also known as “Billionaire Bunker.”
Aside from advantages like better weather, and proximity to his parents and rocket launches at his Blue Origin space company, the move came with another major perk: no state income or capital gains taxes.
Last week, Bezos unloaded 12 million shares of Amazon worth roughly $2 billion, saving him about $140 million in capital gains taxes he would’ve had to dish out to Washington state, CNBC reported.
Washington imposed the tax on sales of stocks or bonds upwards of $250,000 in 2022.
By Jan. 31, 2025, the 60-year-old has plans to sell 50 million shares of the e-commerce giant, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
At today’s price, that would total over $8.7 billion, according to CNBC’s calculations, meaning that on his entire stock sale, Bezos is poised to save at least $610 million.
The nine-figure sum assumes Amazon’s share price remains flat.
The stock has increased more than 15% this year. Should the stock continue to rise, the value of Bezos’ share will increase along with his tax savings.
By 2025, Bezos’ tax savings alone cover the cost of Koru — the $500 million superyacht he purchased last year, which comes equipped with a helicopter landing pad and swimming pool spanned across three decks.
Since Bezos announced his Miami move, onlookers have debated whether he was looking to skirt paying higher taxes.
Property taxes in the Sunshine State are 0.89% — less than Washington’s real estate tax rate of 0.98%, according to Rocket Mortgage, where he lived for the past 30 years in a home less than 10 miles from Amazon’s Seattle headquarters.
And in Washington, deep-pocketed residents with assets valued at $2.193 million or more are also obligated to pay an estate tax ranging from 10% to 20% upon their death.
If Bezos were to keep Seattle as his primary residence and maintain his current net worth of $200 billion, it would mean he’d have to cough up as much as $40 billion in estate taxes upon his death.
Florida, meanwhile, does not charge residents estate tax, regardless of asset size, and also does not tax on capital gains.
Bezos bought a a $79 million, seven-bedroom, 14-bathroom abode in Miami in October — two months after buying the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home next door for $68 million.
After scooping up two of only 40 reported waterfront properties on the ultra-exclusive island Indian Creek, Bezos reportedly has plans to bulldoze the $68 million pad and build a single megamansion with its neighboring eight-figure enclave.
It wasn’t immediately clear if he also has plans to tear down the $79 million, 19,064-square-foot home, though he’ll certainly be paying less property taxes than he did on his former primary residence in Seattle, where he executed a similar teardown project after accumulating a 5.3-acre property in the affluent Medina, Wash., neighborhood.
It also remains to be seen if Bezos will sell his sprawling Washington estate, which merged two lots worth a combined $60 million to build a 25,000-square-foot Tudor-style mansion, a second house that reportedly functions entirely as Bezos’ office, indoor and outdoor pools and waterfront access to Lake Washington.
