Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Monday, Dec. 27, 2010 | 6:18 p.m.
Steve Wynn on the Andre Agassi Grand Slam red carpet at the Wynn on Oct. 9, 2010.
UPDATED STORY: Wynn Resorts announces Steve Wynn’s role in Monaco joint venture
Wynn Resorts Ltd. on Monday said Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Wynn has agreed to serve as an outside director for a joint venture between the governments of Monaco and Qatar, and in the process Prince Albert II of Monaco has conferred Monegasque citizenship upon Wynn.
Wynn, however, has not renounced his American citizenship and remains both a U.S. citizen and taxpayer, said a statement issued by Wynn Resorts spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne.
Wynn Resorts didn't immediately provide details on the nature of the joint venture.
"His Monegasque citizenship was pursued as a result of this appointment," to the board of the joint venture, said the statement from Dunne.
In August it was announced that Qatar and Monaco had formed a joint venture international company, Monaco QD International Hotels and Resorts Management, to acquire and manage hotels and resorts in Europe, the Middle East and North America. It was unknown late Monday if that's the company Wynn has agreed to be a director of.
News of Wynn's Monegasque citizenship was initially spread Monday by Robert Eringer, a blogger critical of the Monaco government who has been in litigation with Monaco.
yes. no. i don't know. i know some.
There must be some tax benefit in it for him. He has no problem with taking American money and "taking" it to Asia. And fuuls keep taking their money to his casinos.
The one thing I always liked about Kerkorian was he shunned this kind of crap. No buildings named after him. No knighthoods or any other honorary bullish*t. He's donated millions (billions) over the years and has specifically stated he wants nothing named in his honor. I guess Steve needs to massage his ego with this stuff
Dual citizenship is perfectly legal, but if he is as smart as everyone thinks he is he will renounce his US Citizenship quickly before it is too late-- the US Government considers its citizens publicly owned slaves and will soon make it a law that anyone who tries to leave their citizenship will be forced to give up a large portion of their wealth. People are renouncing their citizenship in record numbers these days, but that's what always happens to empires in decline, especially those with $trillions & $trillions of debt...
Tax haven...
Google Monaco, dual citizenship, taxes.
It's all about the money.
There are tax benefits...Every F-1 race car driver is a resident there t save millions on taxes
Billionaire Benedict Arnold, he hates America, praises China, a complete ingrate and hypocrite in my opinion.
Is he still going to go on Fox? oh, that's right, Fox is owned by News-corp which is headquartered in Abu Dhabi and owned in part by Alwaleed bin Talal...yep birds of a feather.
Only 100% Americans should be allowed to own casinos in Nevada.
Guess that's why Wynn doesn't support the troops, he's never visited them has he?
Keep the white trash American away from any paintings.
He's an example of what America can do without: a communist monarchist. Good riddance, turncoat. Don't ever come back.
Wynn looks like a Madame Tussauds wax portrait in that Oct. 9 photo?! WTF?
There is absolutely no tax benefit for an American citizen to have a Monaco second citizenship, just as there is no tax benefit for a Frenchman to have a Monaco second citizenship. Monaco agreed to this by treaty years ago to avoid attracting tax cheats.
Americans can have dual citizenship. The US doesn't recognize the second citezenship in most cases, but the second country does. This only gives you the option of staying longer in that country, banking there, opening companies, being a shareholder, owning property like a local, etc. But there is no tax advantage for an American doing this anywhere in the world, and especially not in Monaco which specifically forbids it in its very close relationship with the US.
Monaco does not offer "honorary" citizenship, as some have inquired, and they only allow new citizens on a case-by-case basis. The Sovereign himself approves every single new Citizen. That is why there are only about 7,500 of them.
If you are a citizen of a country OTHER than France or the USA, there are often extraordinary tax advantages to becoming a Monaco citizen INSTEAD of a citizen of your home country. These are the cases we hear of, in which entertainers and athletes have become Monaco citizens or residents, and renounced their prior citizenship legally. Monaco imposes no personal income tax on its citizens or residents, and no corporate income tax on certain kinds of companies organized in the Principality.
There ARE distinct advantages to having Monaco citizenship even for US citizens or French citizens partnering with foreign investors who themselves have Monaco citizenship. Your ability to own certain kinds of Monaco privileged shares may require citizeship, and your partners, because of THEIR tax status in Monaco, may require that the company be based there. If you want the investors, you might have to dance on their dancefloor. This is especially true if the firm is to hold a privileged license (such as gaming) in a third country.
Although I have no direct knowledge of this transaction personally, my opinion is that what we are seeing here is most likely a well thought-out corporate structure allowing disparate investors to come together in the most advantageous way possible for all parties, while getting the job done of funding the company or project in question.
Steve has gone the plastic surgery route and just like the hundreds of aging Hollywood types who have done the same...he looks terrible. Don't these people understand the term "plastic" in plastic surgery? I have yet to see a "good" face pull surgery on any famous people.
Joan Rivers
Kenny Rogers
Michael Douglas
Add Steve Wynn. Nothing wrong with aging gracefully Steve. Trust me, plastic surgery is just that...a plastic look
You guys are so uneducated. If you try to denounce you citizenship in the US you are still responsible for taxes for the next 10 years, not to mention you get blacklisted by Customs so good luck coming and going from the US afterward.
Ringo Starr lives in Monaco or at least has a home there. He could be a legal citizen as well.
The DOJ should investigate this guy under either the Sedition Act or the Patriot Act.
Money_Money
Let me clear up a few things. Mr. Warren, excellent exposition on this issue, you obviously know what you are talking about. Just me, you're close, but no cigar, more education required, I can't believe you said that. Anyway, it is possible to give up one's citizenship and thereby save money on taxes, but it isn't easy. You must refer to The Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 (I'm not kidding)-----which introduced significant changes to the tax rules for individuals giving up US citizenship or US residency. It's complicated but the key thing is that an expatriated individual continues to be treated as a US citizen or long term resident for US tax purposes until he gives notice of an expatriating act or termination of his or her residency to the Secretary of State or US Secretary of Homeland Security. An expatriated individual subject to US tax on certain types of income (generally income "effectively connected" to the United States) is subject to full US federal taxation for any year in the 10 years following expatriation in which he is present in the US for more than 30 days. So now, Steve Wynn is subject to full taxation on his world wide income in the US with offsetting foreign tax credits for taxes paid to foreign governments for income earned there, to avoid double taxation. If he became expatriated he would be subject to taxation only on income effectively connected to the United States, essentially income earned here and not on his world wide income. Furthermore, expatriated individuals are required to file annual returns for each year after expatriation that they are subject to US tax on certain types of income , even if no US federal tax is due. Additionally you must have complied with the US tax filing requirements for the previous five years else you become what is known as a covered expatriate and are subject to a special exit tax. Trust me when I say you don't want to be deemed a covered expatriate.
I don't see Steve Wynn giving up his US citizenship, his identity and history is too tied up with Las Vegas. It would get out and be a public relations nightmare if he tried it. As we all know he still has a large investment in Wynn Resorts Las Vegas, he's not going to give up his citizenship and damage that brand here in the US, people would probably boycott the place and it would never recover. I just can't see it happening. Interesting academic exercise, but that's about it.
Mr. Winkler, If thinks were changed in 2008, then I am dated, and will refer to your expertise. I was working in that field pre 2004 when the threshold for 10 year tax clause was 200k per year or a million in assets, with no mention of 30 days in the US.
Thank you
In my opinion some of the people that comment on this topic are just contributing like a drunk man would. Sorry, no substance!
Why does it all immediately have to be about money? Steve Wynn has shown in the past, in Vegas, that creating things is the "drug" of his choice. Yes he makes money, yes he exports his business to China. But only the narrow minded see that if he depended on Vegas completely, he wouldn't be in the shape he is in now.
Half of Vegas is in bankruptcy and that's not because all of the casino owners are great business men. Wynn has built the most beautiful Strip resort. These resorts still deliver the best quality around. He employes alot of people and contributes to the Vegas community in numerous ways. And all some of you can come up with is that his face shows he's had plastic surgery............
Wynn's creativity in business made hime the icon he is nowadays. Some might think his ego is to big etc, etc. I say, judge the man on what he has accomplished. When I look at it in this way, he's entitled to an ego as big as Monaco....
Irwin Schiff needs a cell mate.
...this is my take on it....I think that is exactly what Steve Wynn is doing ....trying to get out of the United States anyway he can.....dont forget he could get rid of almost everything he owns here by either selling it or putting it in his ex wife's name or his daughters name....look..... first he sells everything he owns then he builds two hotels ...then he divorces his wife...., marries someone who is not an American citizen builds in China ...now a really big venture in Monaco and getting closer to the middle east money....obviously he is slowly making his way out of the United States either because of the down turn.. or some other reason...I dont believe that Steve Wynn thinks that things are going to get better here in the States and might also believe that we are headed into some kind of war...who knows.... but he is most definitely running from the United States....
Wynn looks like Frankenstein! lol
Mr. Wynn is not going anywhere. He is well entrenched in Las Vegas and has done more for this town then just about anyone.
In the U.S. you can have dual citizenship. I have many friends that hold dual citizenship and they just laugh when people make silly comments like the ones being posted here today. There are good reasons/advantages for holding dual citizenship in the United States.
In this case, it is about business and he is a great businessman. Like it or not he knows what he is doing.
Unlike the Haters here, Mr. Wynn is not a U.S. hater.
I'm sorry - but as long as any business continues to voluntarily set up shop in a country that still gives reporters life sentences for telling the truth, they can go to hell. So no WalMart, Wynn, Sands, Caesars or MGM for me. Really unconscionable. It's not just how you do business - it's who you do it with as well. And how many more millions or billions does it take to make one happy anyway? Please - they're no better than psychopaths in jail and any 'good' they do in a community such as jobs is purely for their own ends with no sincerity to the community. Mobsters did good things all the time and were still scum. The big four rewards a nation that slaughters its own and has nothing to say about it. Who gives a crap about Wynn's next deal? Stop living vicariously through this guy and get your own life.
I'm with vegaslee
Mr. Wynn understands how to run his business in good times and bad. If he sells out and leaves the U.S. I will be right behind him.
Just me: you're ok, yes the new law, which makes it harder to gain tax advantages by expatriating one's self/giving up one's residence does have that 30 day requirement, I don't have a IRC section or Treasury Regulation citation for you but I'm certain the source materials that I used to cite that requirement are accurate.
Mred: I cannot believe you accused me of being Schiff-ty when I have supported your paranoid musings on here whenever humanly possible. What's up with that brother?
Camille: I respect your point of view, but don't agree with you. Steve Wynn is just going where he can maximize his returns and insulate himself from risk, which is China, Middle East, India, Brazil, etc. He doesn't need to give up US citizenship to do that. Most of his taxable income is probably through capital appreciation and/or qualified dividends anyway, which are taxed at a maximum rate of 15%, compared to a maximum rate of 35% on other forms of taxable income such as compensation.
Later. I have to go get a life and not live vicariously through Steve Wynn.
my mother has dual-citizenship. She only pays taxes in the US.
... ten years after they leave the States...
It's not such a free country when you consider that someone is apparently obligated to pay the US for ten years after they leave.
As the national debt increases and it becomes more and more likely that the two-percenters won't be able to put off paying a larger share of their loot in taxes, more and more of them will find a way to shirk the responsibility through similar means.
And your politicians will help them.
Didn't Wynn convert to Buddhism several years ago to maximize his opportunities in Asia?
The dual-citizenship misunderstanding comes from the fact that upon swearing for American naturalization (citizenship) the individual must denounce any other allegiances or citizenships to become a US citizen. Conversely, some countries don't require a person to denounce their current citizenship/s to obtain that countries' citizenship. Also, if a person is born in the USA and his parent/s are of another country that country may embrace that newborn as their citizen.
Now back to "Money-Makes-The --World-Go --Round" And no matter how much a person pays in taxes, if a person pays them America stands to gain, which is great for our country and moreover great for each and every one of us. Without going into the dynamics, it makes us the US stronger; when Americans abroad earn an income it creates new money for our econ., hence the tax grace for foreign earned income.
If only more of us could earn an income outside of our econ, what a splendid econ America would have, visa-vie taxes for our Politicians to spend, I mean to say use wisely, oh what the heck waste.
Oh what a waste of money and blood we have inked in the history books, God help us, and God bless the USA.
vegaslee is completely correct. And while Monaco is a tax haven, you can also only own a casino in Monaco if you are a citizen. So Wynn clearly wants to get into the casino industry there. He spent quite some time advising the SBM company, the Monaco casino operator, a couple of years ago. Now he's taking it to the next level.
Smart businessman and a lot of jealous losers posting here.
Thanks Erwin.
For guys like Ringo Starr and Boris Becker, Monaco is a place to hide out from those hideous European taxes (or so I have heard).
The only thing I know about Monaco is Princess Grace (RIP--30 years in September).
In the eyes of the United States:
The US State Dept typically does not recognize dual citizenship status of US natural born or naturalized US Citizens if the person is currently a US Citizen....either you are a US Citizen, or you are not - you cannot be both.
Any current US Citizen can be a dual citizen within the United States as long as another country 'grants' you their citizenship while NOT applying for a foreign citizenship, which seems to be the case of this article here and is no big deal...You still retain your US Citizenship and remain a documented US Taxpayer subject to US taxes that apply while reaping any benefits of the foreign nation 'granting' you their citizenship.
However, if any US citizen APPLIES for a foreign citizenship and takes the oath to become 'their citizen', YOU ARE NO LONGER A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES in the eyes of the US Government, as the United States does not recognize dual citizenship within this criteria....
Should a US natural born or naturalized US Citizen denounce their citizenship to a foreign country, that citizen can always retain their US Citizenship at anytime, providing that they denounce their foreign status while officially no longer recognized as a citizen of that foreign state.
In the eyes of most foreign countries :
You are a citizen of their country for life if you are natural born or naturalized, no matter what country you currently reside in or officially becoming a citizen to whatever foreign country, thus obtaining dual citizenship status.
Monaco law does not allow dual citizenship. The requirements for naturalization in Monaco specifically require Wynn to lose his US citizenship. Read it for yourself at Monaco's government website:
http://www.gouv.mc/devwww/wwwnew.nsf/0/7...
Wynn cannot be American and Monegasque. Which is it Wynn?