Two livestreaming hosts fined for tax evasion

Livestreaming hosts Zhu Chenhui and Lin Shanshan were fined for tax evasion, according to the Zhejiang Provincial Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration on Monday.

The Hangzhou tax authority announced that Zhu was fined 65.55 million yuan ($10.26 million) and Lin 27.67 million yuan for evading their tax obligations, based on previous investigations and big data analysis.

The two internet celebrities were found to have set up several sole proprietorship enterprises in Shanghai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Jiangxi province from 2019 to 2020, and fictitiously transformed their personal salaries and incomes into the interests of operating these sole proprietorship enterprises.

Their behavior has violated the relevant tax laws and regulations and disrupted the order of tax collection and administration, local authorities said.

The Inspection Division of the Hangzhou Tax Bureau has issued a tax administrative processing decision letter to Zhu and Lin, and has performed tax administrative penalty notification procedures in accordance with the law.

The tax bureau said that the supervision and management of professionals in the culture and entertainment industry, such as online livestreaming hosts, should be further strengthened to promote the awareness of fulfilling legal obligations and actively advance the healthy development of the industry.

Fang Xiaoying in Hangzhou contributed to this story.