Chapter 669: Huge Dividends!
The next morning!
When Li Yi woke up from his hangover, it was already past ten in the morning.
That’s right, he’d gotten drunk yesterday!
Of course, Li Yi wasn’t the only one who’d gotten drunk; Li Yunbao, Zhou Xinghua, and the others were all passed out as well.
On the team’s side, only Lan Xinyi, Cai Bingyan, and a few other women remained sober.
The reason for such wild revelry was simply that yesterday had been such a joyous occasion.
At yesterday’s meeting, after everyone had agreed on the profit-sharing plan, Reggie Green announced that all company employees would receive a year-end bonus of $10,000 by the end of the month, with bonuses for management increasing in stages based on their positions.
The moment the news was announced, the entire conference room erupted in excitement!
Keep in mind that the average salary for an ordinary worker is less than $1,500. While those in finance earn a bit more, their salaries are still only around $2,000.
A $10,000 bonus all at once—that’s equivalent to nearly half a year’s salary for them. How could they not be thrilled?
Consequently, at the celebratory reception that followed, everyone from top management to rank-and-file employees came forward to toast Reggie Green and Li Yi to thank them for their generosity.
Because these people were so enthusiastic, Li Yunbao and the others who were trying to shield Li Yi from the drinks fell one by one, and in the end, even Zhou Xinghua had to step in personally—but it was still no use.
Finally, after the last person had finished their drink, Li Yi had no choice but to demonstrate his “one-cup-at-a-time” drinking feat for these American employees!
After sitting on the bed to recover for a while, Li Yi finally walked into the bathroom to take a shower.
After changing into clean clothes, he went down to the living room.
As soon as he came downstairs, he saw Reggie Green chatting with Jimmy Michel in the living room, along with a few people Li Yi didn’t recognize.
When Reggie Green saw Li Yi coming downstairs, he immediately stood up and said apologetically, “Li, you’re awake. I’m truly sorry. I had no idea your tolerance for alcohol was so low. I promise that at future company parties, no one will ever make you drink again!”
“Green, it’s just a matter of personal constitution. You don’t need to apologize for this!”
Li Yi then asked, “Why did you come over so early, and why did you bring Jimmy?”
Reggie Green replied immediately, “I came over today mainly to discuss the stock dividend with you!”
Hearing this, Li Yi’s eyes lit up, and he asked immediately, “Green, have the dividend figures been calculated yet?”
“Yes. Based on your shareholding percentage, you’re entitled to $874 million!”
Reggie Green then personally explained to Li Yi why, even though the company had earned over 6 billion US dollars in profits, he—as a major shareholder holding 30% of the stock—would only receive less than 1 billion US dollars.
According to Reggie Green’s explanation, although they had earned over 6 billion US dollars from this investment, they had to make a 30% advance tax payment to the IRS.
Furthermore, the vast majority of the funds for this investment came from clients. Since the profits weren’t entirely the company’s to keep, a portion had to be distributed to the clients according to the contract, meaning less than half actually ended up in the company’s hands.
On top of that, expenses such as employee bonuses had to be deducted. By the time the funds reached Li Yi, the major shareholder, only $874 million remained.
In fact, Li Yi understood all this without Reggie Green needing to explain it—after all, he was an investor himself and knew how profits were distributed.
So, he was already quite satisfied with the $874 million he received!
After all, this investment was, in the truest sense, a windfall for him.
He’d secured over 30% of the company’s shares without putting up a single penny upfront, and now he’d received such a massive payout all at once. Even after repaying the funds for the equity transfer to Wan Davis and the others, he’d still have plenty left over—what more could he ask for?
“Green, when can I get this money?” Li Yi asked.
“Right now, but you must settle your tax issues first. Otherwise, the consequences will be severe!” Reggie Green said sternly.
He’d seen too many Asians who’d failed to handle their tax affairs properly, leading to extremely serious consequences. He didn’t want Li Yi to follow in their footsteps.
Li Yi nodded immediately and said, “I understand what you mean. I’ll hire a professional accountant to handle this!”
Reggie Green pointed to the two middle-aged men standing nearby and said, “These two are the heads of the professional accounting firm our company partners with. Li, if you have any tax-related matters, you can go directly to them for assistance!”
“Alright, thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome!”
Reggie Green then added, “By the way, Li, once you receive the funds, you should pay back Davis and the others first. If you go past the two-month deadline, I’m worried they might cancel the contract on the grounds of breach of contract!”
“Alright, as soon as the money comes in, I’ll fulfill the contract immediately!”
Li Yi understood Reggie Green’s concerns. After all, the gold short-selling couldn’t be kept secret, and since Davis and the others had been with the company for quite some time, they might already know how much profit the company had made yesterday.
More importantly, with this track record, both the company and its clients had made a fortune. As expected, the company’s stock price was bound to skyrocket.
With this track record, more investors would surely join Green Brothers next year. It was safe to say that Green Brothers had now completely emerged from its previous quagmire.
As the company’s second-largest shareholder, Davis certainly won’t take this lying down if he’s forced out at a time like this.
Of course, the contract is in black and white, leaving him no room to renege—but if he were to breach the terms, that would be a different matter entirely.
Seeing that Li Yi had truly taken his advice to heart, Reggie Green immediately nodded in satisfaction!
After exchanging a few words with Li Yi, he left Jimmy and the others behind to handle Li Yi’s tax matters, while he himself departed Manhattan Manor under the escort of his bodyguards and headed to the company.
Although the gold short-selling investment project had concluded, there were still many matters requiring his attention—such as holding a press conference to announce the company’s financial results, and meeting with major clients, among other things…
After Reggie Green and his group left, Jimmy and the others discussed Thief Eagle’s tax issues with Li Yi.
According to Jimmy and the others, the IRS classifies income earned by non-tax residents (those who do not qualify as U.S. citizens or green card holders) into three main categories: income from the sale of U.S. real estate or personal property; tax-exempt income as defined by tax law; and FDAP income.
The IRS applies different tax rules to these three categories. For instance, income from the sale of real estate or personal property in the U.S. is automatically treated as an activity related to business operations in the U.S. and must comply with the same tax filing rules as U.S. tax residents.
In other words, capital gains from such sales are taxed on the net income after deducting related costs and expenses.
However, Li Yi’s current situation does not fall under this category; his income should be classified as FDAP income for a foreign tax resident, which is subject to a flat tax rate of just 10%.
Although it was a bit painful, Li Yi knew that tax audits here were extremely strict, and the consequences of underreporting or omitting income were severe.
Therefore, immediately after receiving that massive dividend, he went to the tax office to file his taxes with the assistance of Jimmy and others.
After paying nearly 90 million in taxes, he immediately asked Reggie Green to contact Davis and the others to formally disburse the contract funds totaling over 600 million dollars…
………..