Chapter 1,295 Movies and Tax Officials

In autumn in the old capital, the ground under the shade of the trees shines golden, and white frost spreads to every corner of the city like longing. The rustling wind blew the breath of parting in my face. A city, a person, a story, all kinds of things in the world, joys and sorrows.

At this moment, in a hotel in the capital, Alexander and the bald man Cohen talked about the reason why the Asian Ye Ming was invited to the greedy investment movie.

The problem is that it’s okay to hire Ye Ming for kung fu movies. Chinese kung fu stars are much better than European and American ones. This is true. The key is that European and American action stars grew up eating beef and milk. They can’t afford to suffer. Naturally There is no real skill left.

There is no doubt that Bruce Lee is not as tall and strong as Arnold, but if it is said that he is a real kung fu at this time, then Brother Long will completely defeat Arnold, and even defeat European and American people. I guess this does not matter. Not many Chinese people, nor those in Europe and America, have any doubts.

But the key is that this time the performance is a road movie. It is easier for European and American stars to grasp the essence of road movies. On this point, Cohen actually complained, but now the problem is no longer a matter of complaining or not. Rather, it means that such a matter involves the issue of money laundering. This is not an issue that he as a director should not care about, or even an issue that as a director and producer he should be aware of.

Well, maybe it means that the producer may know, but as a director, I guess there are not many opportunities to know such information, or it is better not to know. Money laundering must be justified by saying that the money comes from bad sources, right?

It’s the black money that needs to be laundered. The director who shoots the movie is just a wage earner, so knowing so much may not be a good thing.

But curiosity killed the cat. Although Cohen said that as a director, it might be better for him not to know about such a thing, but no matter what it is, he is still very curious about such a problem. Said: "Money laundering, what is this problem? Why does Universal become a tool for others to launder money? This is illegal, and Universal is not supposed to be guilty of such a thing."

Alexander hesitated for a moment and then said: "This matter, well, it is not money laundering as you think. These money and investments are actually very normal investments. The money comes from very clean. Otherwise, Do you think that a well-established Hollywood film company would do something so stupid as to launder money?

This is almost impossible. Therefore, when it comes to such a problem, what is the problem? It means that some people are playing hide and seek with the government. Specifically, there is a rich man who, in order to make himself You want to inherit the money to your children, but you don’t want to pay inheritance tax. At this time, you know how high the U.S. government’s inheritance tax is, right? "

The highest inheritance tax in the United States is even more than 50%, and the highest can reach the limit of 55%. In other words, if you inherit a property of 10 million, you will have to pay an inheritance of 5.5 million. Tax, this is equivalent to paying more than half of the inheritance.

Of course, the higher the inheritance, the more you have to pay, with the maximum of 55% being the upper limit. The descendants of U.S. President Heathford have no money to pay inheritance tax. Therefore, Heathford's mansion on the hillside is now a public museum.

Anyway, in the United States, the richer the person, the higher the inheritance tax and so on. Cohen certainly knows why the U.S. government has set this regulation. Of course, it doesn’t make the rich people pay, and it doesn’t make much sense to ask ordinary people to pay.

The current tax-free line in the United States is one million U.S. dollars, which means that if the property you want to inherit does not exceed one million U.S. dollars, you will not have to pay inheritance tax. Only the excess amount will need to be taxed according to regulations.

Therefore, speaking of it, this is not very beneficial to the rich. From this point of view, it can be seen that this is a very good inheritance tax regulation, but for the rich, it seems that it is not a good regulation. ah.

Cohen was stunned for a moment and then said: "Is this method feasible? Investing in movies, this seems a bit unreliable, right?"

This is indeed the case. One of the most common methods used by wealthy Americans is to set up a foundation or something, let their children work in the foundation, and then they will have a steady stream of wages.

There is no need to pay taxes anyway, and even if you donate it, you can offset the inheritance tax. But when it comes to making movies, this is not so good and most people like to use it. Even if Cohen himself is a director, he has never heard of similar examples.

Alexander said slowly: "You don't know this, but it is actually a very normal thing. Otherwise, I am the producer of this movie, and I don't need to know this.

Do you know that the last road movie cost 50 million, but the box office was less than 40 million. In this case, it would be a loss of 10 million no matter what. "If this is calculated in this way, it is indeed a loss of 10 million.

At this time, Cohen thought for a while and said: "If you include the peripheral income from CDs and movies, it may mean that there is no need to lose money, but it may be impossible to say that this movie will make money, but if it is to maintain capital, then it is probably not possible. questionable."

As a director, he is naturally very familiar with the movie process. On a question like this, he knows very well what these movies rely on to make money. Generally speaking, Hollywood movies that can make money at the box office are less than one-tenth of the scale.

That's right, what you saw is correct. For Hollywood movies, if you want to make money at the box office, having one out of ten such movies is considered good. More movies rely on box office, peripherals, and movie advertising revenue to achieve profitability.

These are all ways for Hollywood to make money.

Hollywood is an industrial film industry. In a matter like this, making money is not just about the box office. There are a lot of money-making peripherals, such as Transformers toys, toys and props surrounding cartoons, etc. These are all ways to make money. If Disney didn’t have the support of Hollywood’s movie image, would Disneyland be able to welcome guests one after another?

Therefore, whether you can make money or lose money by watching a movie in Hollywood, it is a somewhat immature idea to just look at the box office of a movie.

And Cohen never believed that the box office of a movie determines everything. Of course, it is better to make money at the box office, but if it is said that the box office cannot make money, then on this issue, it is to make money by looking at peripherals and other extensions. .

Therefore, with a cost of 50 million and a box office of 40 million, it is really difficult to say whether it will definitely lose money. If the hype is good, then it is not necessary to say no to maintaining capital on such an issue. It's possible.

The key is to see how you operate, and as a veteran film company, Universal naturally has its own way of dealing with such a problem.

Therefore, Cohen believes that this road movie may not necessarily look like what everyone has seen, and it must be a loss.

Of course, judging from the box office, it does mean that it lost money. Alexander said with great certainty: "We definitely didn't lose money on this. Let me tell you the truth. We at Universal are just in name. The real investor in this movie is a Hollywood giant, a super giant, who has his own theater chain." , therefore, there is no such thing as a share of the box office among theaters. After excluding the money paid to the government, the rest is all owned by the family, which is about 40 million, while the movie advertisement is about 18 million. As for the peripherals of the movie, there are also more than 5 million. It can be said that it did not lose money, but definitely made a profit.

Next, movie-related peripherals are all profitable. The children of this investor are the shareholders of the offshore investment company who benefited. In other words, his 50 million was easily given to his children, and he did not lose any money and made more than 10 million. This is what the rich do. Although the U.S. government says it has enacted many laws to collect taxes, in fact, if it wants to avoid taxes legally, it does not mean that no one can do it on such a problem. Hollywood is actually a place where something like this can be done. "

Hollywood is a good place to make money, but it is also a good place to launder money. Of course, it is a place that the US government pays close attention to, and it is very careful. Most of the money is collected here.

Of course, this actually caused the prosperity of Hollywood in disguise. At this point, no matter what the situation is, this is a pretty good role for a problem like this.

And it means that in this matter, the difference between Hollywood heaven and hell is basically just a moment, that is to say, the first line of heaven and the first line of hell are the same standard.

Cohen said with some emotion: "These rich people are really powerful, but the first time they used such a method, the people in the U.S. government were caught off guard. They did not expect such a method to happen, but after For such a matter, if we continue to use such a method, then do you think the U.S. government will be willing? Is the Federal Tax Service an idiot? Will it allow the same thing to happen twice? "

This is almost an impossible thing, and federal tax officials are not just for free. To put it bluntly, this method of money laundering is not illegal, but it is definitely not legal, and it is just a gray area.

Therefore, when it comes to an issue like this, it depends on whether the federal tax official is really paying attention to this matter.

If the federal tax official really pays no attention to a matter like this, then those who want to take advantage of such an issue will have to think about whether they will have to bear the wrath of the federal tax official.

Alexander laughed and said: "You are right, people who can be tax officials are not idiots, and the tax officials in California are not idiots anymore. They are actually starting to pay attention to such an issue.

Therefore, if we were to become a sole proprietor at this time, we would definitely be punished by the tax officials. The U.S. government is trying to scare the monkeys. Therefore, on such a problem, we cannot be a sole proprietor, and investors cannot The pump takes its own money. Because the tax officer has already said hello, if he tries this trick again, he will definitely be rude and attack the crew directly. "

In the United States, if a tax officer is determined to do something, it is absolutely very easy. Therefore, at this time, it is impossible to invest in this road film as a sole proprietorship. Otherwise, it is challenging the US government and the federal tax officials. Such behavior is definitely seeking death.

Therefore, on such a question, Alexander's words made Cohen immediately understand the key: "Therefore, Universal gave the leading role to Ye Ming, not because they wanted to use Ye Ming to bring James over, so that Murdoch’s son should invest in this movie, that’s not right, James is playing [the day after tomorrow] on his own at this time and has no intention of investing in our movie.”

At this time, being able to understand the relationship is already quite a big deal. And to a question like this, the answer Cohen gave is pretty much close to the truth.

Alexander thought for a moment. As a director of a movie, if he said he didn't know the background of the movie, he might be offending people casually.

Therefore, when it comes to a matter like this, it is definitely not about an issue like this. Alexander hesitated for a while and then told Universal's plan: "It is impossible for James to bring Rupert Murdoch down." For those involved, they have their own film company, and Fox is their own company. We at Universal will not let Fox get involved.

Therefore, at this time, our goal is actually not James, but Ye Ming, so that Ye Ming can participate in such a thing.

Of course, James said hello and said that he recommended Ye Ming to participate in this movie, and then we realized that choosing Ye Ming was also a good result.

If you think about it carefully, if Ye Ming is also involved, then on such an issue, it will almost meet the standards of the federal tax officer.

In this case, the movie is owned by Universal, there are investors, and there is Ye Ming's Brilliant Film and Television, but they are not invested by one company, and the US government can't say anything. Ye Ming is the protagonist. If you don't want him to do it, who will do it? ” (To be continued)