Long before he became one of the most famous investors in history, Warren Buffett was a 14 year old paperboy in Washington, D.C., filing his very first federal tax return in 1944. That document, which has resurfaced publicly, shows Buffett owed just 7 dollars in taxes that year.
According to the filing, Buffett earned 592.50 dollars delivering newspapers and reported an additional 228 dollars in interest and dividend income, modest sums by any measure but notable for a young teenager already tracking his finances with the discipline that would come to define his career. The return also shows Buffett deducting small business related expenses, including the cost of repairing a watch and money spent on his bicycle, lowering his taxable income the same way a seasoned entrepreneur might.
From a Teenage Paperboy to a Tax Bill in the Billions
The contrast with where Buffett and his company stand today is dramatic. Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate Buffett built from a struggling textile company into one of the largest businesses in the world, paid roughly 26.8 billion dollars in federal taxes in 2024, according to Buffett's own annual letter to shareholders. At the time, that figure represented the largest single tax payment ever made to the US government by one company.
