How Harvard Can Minimize Taxes

With President Trump removing Harvard's tax-exempt status, here is a roadmap to lowering tax drag.

Run a backdoor Roth IRA. After coming in above the single filer limit of $165,000 per year (you currently make about $100,000,000 per year), just open a Traditional IRA, contribute the max $7,000 plus an additional catch-up contribution $1,000 (you are 389 years old) of after-tax money, then just convert it to a Roth IRA. Easy.

That $8,000 can grow tax-free forever, just like your $50,000,000,000 used to do.

Tax Loss Harvest. When you have a position at a loss, like the football team versus Yale the last three seasons, you can sell that position and buy a similar position.

Buying positions is like when someone donates a bunch of money to you (sadly no longer a write-off for them) and you grant admission to their kid with mediocre grades and test scores.

Relocate to Florida.

Start claiming that MIT is just a bunch of government freeloaders, and you're really the only game in town. Can you believe they don't even pay taxes?

Open up a Solo 401K. You can contribute the $23,500 employee limit plus round up to the $70,000 total limit through additional employer contributions. That's ALL shielded from current tax.

Given that you make about $100,00,000, instead of getting taxed on that amount, the federal government will only tax you on the $99,930,000. You'll save about $30,000 in taxes at your effective tax rate (and since you're already 59.5 years old, you can touch the Solo 401K immediately without penalty!). I think I overheard you tell a prospective donor once that you "sneeze at $30,000 gifts wanting strings attached," but I don't totally recall.

Hire your young children to be models. With legal employment, they are then allowed to open and fund Roth IRAs up to the amount they earned each year ($7,000 limit since under age 50).

Do a Roth Conversion. JK JK, you have no IRA assets to convert yet.

Open up an HSA. Unmarried and without dependents, you can contribute $4,150 plus a catch-up contribution of $1,000 (again, 389 years old) and will get a TRIPLE tax benefit: shielded from taxes now, growth is tax-free, and you can sell it tax-free.

Just like the old days! Oh, the nostalgia.

Rethink Florida, and choose Texas instead.

You can even keep riding a really high horse!

End.