The first thousand two hundred and ninety-five chapters movie and the tax officer
In the autumn of the old capital, the ground under the shade of the trees shines golden, and the white frost spreads to every corner of the city like longing. The rustling wind blows the breath of farewell. A city, a person, and a story interpret the world.
All kinds of expressions, 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 bear hardships. 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 can beat Arnold, or even beat Europeans and Americans. I guess it doesn’t matter.
Not many Chinese people, nor those in Europe and the United States, 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, 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. When it comes to money laundering, it must be justified to say that the money is not good, right?
.
That black money needs to be laundered. And the director of the movie is just a wage earner, so knowing so much is not necessarily a good thing.
But curiosity killed the cat. Although Cohen said that it might be better for him as a director not to know such a thing, but no matter what it is, he is still very curious about such a problem.
Said: "Money laundering, what is this issue about? 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 before saying: "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 film company in Hollywood would do such a stupid thing and launder money stupidly?
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 or anything like that. 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 tax 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, and the maximum 55% is the upper limit. The descendants of US President Heathford have no money to pay inheritance tax. Therefore, Heathford’s family is surrounded by mountains and rivers.
The mansion is now a public museum.
Anyway, in the United States, the richer the person, the higher the inheritance tax and so on. Of course Cohen knows why the US government has set this rule. Of course, the rich are not allowed to pay, and ordinary people are not allowed to pay much.
Meaning.
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?"
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.
Anyway, there is no need to pay taxes, and even if you donate it, you can offset the inheritance tax. But for making movies, this is not so good and is not used by ordinary people. Even Cohen himself is a director, but he didn’t listen.
I said there are 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, and the box office was less than 40 million. In this case, it is a loss of 10 million." If calculated in this way, it is indeed a loss of 10 million.
Tens of millions.
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 how these movies make money. Generally speaking, Hollywood movies that can make money at the box office are probably not
to one-tenth the scale.
That’s right, you’re watching it right. For Hollywood movies, if you want to make money at the box office, having one out of ten of these movies is considered good. More movies rely on box office plus peripherals, plus movies.
Advertising revenue to achieve profitability.
These are all ways for Hollywood to make money.
Hollywood is an industrialized film industry. In a matter like this, making money is not just about the box office. There are many things that make money from peripheral products, such as Transformers toys, toys and props surrounding cartoons, etc.
They are all means of making money. If Disney did not have the support of Hollywood 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 look at peripherals and other extensions to make money.
Already.
Therefore, with a cost of 50 million and a box office of 40 million, it is really hard to say whether it will definitely result in a loss of 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 it, and as a veteran film company, Universal naturally has its own way of handling the aftermath of such a problem.
Therefore, Cohen believes that this road movie is not necessarily a money-loser as everyone has seen.
Of course, judging from the box office, it is indeed said that we lost money. Alexander said with great certainty: "We definitely did not 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 big man in Hollywood."
Crocodile, a super predator, has its own theater chain. Therefore, there is no such thing as a share of the box office among theater chains. Apart from what is paid to the government, the rest is all their own, which is about 40 million, and this movie
The advertising cost is about 18 million, and the movie peripherals are also over 5 million. It can be said that we did not lose money, but definitely made a profit.
Next, movie-related peripherals are all profitable. And 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 didn’t lose any money and made more than 10 million. This is the method of the rich. Although the U.S. government says it has enacted many laws to collect taxes, in fact, if it wants to legally avoid taxes, then it looks like this
When it comes to a problem, it doesn’t mean that no one can do it. Hollywood is actually a place where such a thing 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 U.S. government pays close attention to, and it is very closely watched. Most of the money is collected here.
Of course, this actually caused the prosperity of Hollywood in disguise. At this point, no matter what it is, in terms of such a problem, this is a pretty good role.
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 that such a method would happen, but now
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 a question like this, it depends on whether the federal tax officer really pays 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. In fact, they have begun 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
You have to take the money yourself. Because the tax official has already said hello, if you try this trick again, you will definitely be rude and attack the crew directly."
In the United States, if the tax officer is determined to do something, it is absolutely very easy. Therefore, at this time, it is impossible to invest in this road movie as a sole proprietorship.
Otherwise, it is challenging the U.S. 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
Rupert 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, it is quite remarkable to be able to understand the relationship. And for such a question, the answer Cohen gave can be considered to be relatively close to the truth.
Alexander thought for a while. 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. Only then did we realize that choosing Ye Ming was also a good result.
If you think about it carefully, if Ye Ming is also involved, then on a question like this, it almost meets the standards of the federal tax officer.
In this case, if the movie is owned by Universal, there are investors, and there is Ye Ming's Brilliant Film and Television, it is not invested by one company, and the U.S. government can't say anything. Ye Ming will be the protagonist, you say not to let it