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Case file s562 · Foundations · 2024
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2024
Elon Musk: Elon Musk - 54820081119 (3x4 cropped, Rule of thirds)
Elon Musk. Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
"living; reported 12 December 2024"
Place
Austin, Texas · United States
Field
technology · Business and finance on the timeline
Legal tradition
US federal tax law (IRC 4942 minimum distribution) · Common law
Historical event
2021 Tesla share-price peak
Religion
Elon Musk: Other (recorded as theism on Wikidata)
Member of
The Planetary Society, Royal Society of London, Network of the Department of Government Efficiency, America Party (Wikidata)
FoundationsGiven awayNowNorth AmericaUnited States

Elon Musk gave his foundation $7.9 billion in Tesla stock in two years, and its filings show it paid out less than required

Elon and Kimbal Musk set up the Musk Foundation in 2001 with about $2.1 million in eBay shares†. Its board is Elon Musk and two employees of his family office, Jared Birchall and Matilda Simon, and it has no staff. Its 990-PF returns report contributions of $5.70 billion in 2021 and $2.25 billion in 2022, in Tesla shares. The foundation's year-end market value was $9.42 billion in 2021, $5.05 billion in 2022 and $9.45 billion in 2023. It paid grants of $159.9 million, $160.5 million and $236.6 million in those years, against distributable amounts of $202.9 million, $353.8 million and $424.0 million. The returns show undistributed income of $41.2 million, $234.4 million and $421.8 million. Section 4942 imposes a 30% tax on income still undistributed at the start of the second following year. The New York Times reported in December 2024 that the foundation missed the minimum in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and that many grants went to groups tied to Musk. In 2020 it gave $60,000 to Ad Astra, the school Musk started for his children and employees' children†.

What the law took from it

A foundation funded with one stock must pay out 5% of its market value every year, so a share rally raises the bill and an unpaid shortfall becomes a tax.

Sources
  1. Cornell Law School, LIICourt record
  2. ProPublicaPress
  3. The New York TimesPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Elon Musk gave his foundation $7.9 billion in Tesla stock in two years, and its filings show it paid out less than required,” story s562, https://www.celebrity.estate/elon-musk-2024, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

FoundationsGiven awayNowNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States