Gundlach Moves DoubleLine Unit to Tax-Free Florida
Gundlach Moves $134 Billion DoubleLine Unit to Tax-Free Florida
(Bloomberg) -- Jeffrey Gundlach’s money-management arm, DoubleLine Capital LP, has moved its “principal office” to Florida.
The relocation to Tampa from Glendale, California, was outlined in a recent regulatory filing. Gundlach said he isn’t moving to Tampa, according to a post on Twitter.
“Key decisions impacting the policies and strategy of DoubleLine Capital” will now be conducted in the Sunshine State, as will regular meetings of its board of managers, the firm said in the filing.
The billionaire fund manager has long complained about taxes and quality of life in California. Gundlach, 62, could save millions of dollars by moving to Florida, which has no state income tax. Many other wealthy financiers have already relocated there from locales including California, New York and New Jersey, where combined state and local levies can reach double digits.
DoubleLine employees have been working remotely since the pandemic with the flexibility to use office space as needed, the spokeswoman said, without elaborating on the reason for the change of its principal office, now located at 2002 N. Tampa St.
Even when Glendale was DoubleLine’s principal office, most of the firm’s operations were housed in nearby Los Angeles, which continues to serve as the company’s headquarters, according to its website.
The Tampa office houses Gundlach’s money-management unit, which oversaw more than $134 billion at year-end. The L.A. location provides the Florida office with “personnel and resources necessary to support DoubleLine’s routine day-to-day business,” the firm said in the Jan. 11 filing.
An employee of a partnership such as DoubleLine Capital can simply move their primary residence to Florida to reap the tax advantages, said Geoffrey Weinstein, an attorney at law firm Cole Schotz.
But for partners of companies like DoubleLine to benefit, it’s not enough to simply become Florida residents. The firm itself would need to derive some revenue from outside California, an objective that could be met by shifting decision-making to Tampa.
“The only income tax the partner would have to pay is anything related to California activity,” Weinstein said. “There are probably going to be some major players that move to Tampa.”
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