George Soros's transfer of $18 billion into his Open Society Foundations nonprofit was made in advance of a tax deadline and may allow him to avoid taxes he'd otherwise owe on the money that had accumulated offshore, Bloomberg News reports:
A New York-based money manager such as Soros could be subject to a top federal income tax rate of 39.6 percent, plus state and city levies.
When Congress eliminated the tax break in 2008, it gave hedge fund managers until Dec. 31, 2017 to bring the cash home and pay the accumulated taxes.
Other reporting on the donation, such as this New York Times article by David Gelles, fails to mention the tax angle.