Elon Musk will be liquidating more equity in Tesla than he needs to pay his tax obligations after a controversial month filled with rifts with United States lawmakers and United Nations officials.

According to reports from Associated Press, experts think the billionaire is saving up for bigger tax bills in the future or converting his stock to cash.

Musk has reportedly sold about 8.2 million shares of Tesla in the past nine days, which were valued at more than $8.8 billion. 

According to data released by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, shared valued at about $3 billion were liquidated to complete tax obligations linked to tock options that he exercised this week. These figures suggest that stocks worth nearly $5 billion were sold in surplus.

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Musk, who has about 60 million followers on Twitter, posted a poll earlier this month asking if he should sell part of his Tesla stock. Days later, he said that 58% of the people said yes. 

He wrote in the social media post, “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my stock.”

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Musk could have cut his tax bill on the options in half if he had exercised the options and waited a year to sell the shares, according to University of Notre Dame professor Brad Badertscher. That is because with an immediate sale, the gain is taxed as ordinary income. In a year, Musk would pay the much lower capital gains rate, he added.

As of Tuesday, Tesla’s stock had fallen nearly 14% since SpaceX founder Musk agreed to abide by the poll. On Wednesday, Tesla shares were up about 3% in mid-afternoon trading, according to reports from Associated Press.

(With AP inputs)