Chinese tax authorities have fined a social media influencer CNY 62 million (around $9.8 million) in the country’s latest tax evasion case involving online celebrities.
On February 22 the tax department of Guangzhou City said Ping Rong evaded CNY 19.3 million of personal income tax by not reporting commission income from broadcasts from 2019 to 2020, and underpaid CNY 14.5 million in other taxes by failing to declare production and operating income.
The fine assessed to Ping, who goes by the online name Donkey Sister Ping Rong, includes a 60 percent penalty and late payment fees, the tax agency said.
The assessment is the latest in a series of tax-related charges levied against media celebrities in China. In December 2021 the government fined the country's top social medial influencer, Huang Wei — better known by her internet name, Viya — CNY 1.34 billion for tax evasion. The previous month, it fined two other social media personalities a total of CNY 93.3 million after determining that they evaded their income tax liabilities by engaging in fictitious business deals to make it appear that individual income was the revenue of their sole proprietorships.
In August 2021 the State Administration of Taxation said actor Zheng Shuang failed to declare CNY 191 million of income and underpaid other taxes in 2019 and 2020. The tax agency said Zheng used yin-yang contracts, which involve the signing of two different agreements for the same deal, with only the lower-value contract reported for tax purposes.
The government has pursued other celebrities in high-profile tax cases in recent years. In 2018 it fined Fan Bingbing CNY 479 million after the film star was charged with tax evasion that also involved the use of yin-yang contracts.
The tax investigations have taken place against the backdrop of the government’s campaign to address income and wealth inequality. In August 2021 President Xi Jinping said his plans to achieve “common prosperity” require regulations to “reasonably adjust excessive income and encourage high-income groups and enterprises to give back more to society.”