The growth of Tesla and SpaceX in recent years has skyrocketed Elon Musk's net worth to over $200 billion. This makes him the richest man in the world. Most of his wealth is due to his ownership of over 170 million shares of Tesla.

Big tech companies and their billionaire founders have often been accused of not paying enough taxes. So why is Musk writing a hefty check of $11 billion to US federal government? Let's find out.

Is the $11 Billion Figure Real?

It may seem like a lot of money for one man to be paying in taxes, even for a billionaire, but Elon Musk revealed the amount himself in a tweet:

Also, according to Musk, $11 billion will be the highest amount ever paid by a single person in federal taxes in US history. This will be a remarkable turnaround for Musk.

Earlier this year, Musk was the subject of a ProPublica report that showed that he paid a "true tax rate" of only 3.27% between 2014 and 2018. ProPublica also says Musk paid zero dollars in federal taxes in 2018. And in 2017, he only paid $65,000.

Related: Elon Musk Is Time's Person of the Year 2021: Here's Why

Why Does Elon Musk Have to Pay $11 Billion in Taxes?

tesla gigafactory with cars infront

Tesla pays Musk in stock options instead of a salary. Stock options are shares of a company usually offered to the CEO at a significantly discounted price, which is tremendously lower than their actual value in the stock market. When the CEO purchases these shares at a discounted price, it's called exercising the options.

Musk was awarded 22.8 million shares of Tesla at $6.24 per share in 2012. At the current market value of a Tesla share ($900), Elon Musk stands to add over $20 billion to his net worth when he exercises the options. This is called a realized gain.

Related: Why Is Elon Musk's Tesla No Longer Accepting Bitcoin?

Unfortunately for Musk, realized gains attract a 53% effective tax rate. Musk, therefore, has to pay the US government more than half of the $20 billion gain, which comes to $11 billion. This figure has fallen due, and Musk has to clear it.

To foot the bill of both purchasing the options and paying the taxes accruing to the realized gain from that transaction, Musk has been forced to sell off millions of his Tesla shares in the stock market.

Musk's Net Worth Will Be Just Fine

Although Musk is taking an $11 billion hit on his net worth by exercising his stock options, he remains the wealthiest person globally by a significant distance and will likely continue to be so for a long time.

In addition, as the ProPublica report showed, Musk has legally paid little or no federal taxes in previous years. Sooner or later, Uncle Sam was going to come calling. And so he has.