On November 22, the Hangzhou Taxation Bureau, through taxation big data analysis, penalized two internet anchors Zhu Chenhui (Sydney) and Lin Shanshan for suspected tax evasion, and they were required to pay taxes, late fees, and fines. 65,553,100 yuan and 27,672,500 yuan. As soon as the news came out, it quickly boarded the hot search, and behind the hot public opinion, some calm analysis was needed to interpret several key issues.
1. How do Internet celebrity anchors evade taxes?
The two anchors have exactly the same pattern of tax evasion. Both are through the establishment of sole proprietorships in Beihai of Guangxi, Yichun of Jiangxi, Shanghai and other places, fictitious In order to evade tax by converting personal wages and salaries and labor remuneration obtained by relevant enterprises into the operating income of individual proprietorship enterprises.
The highest tax rate for wages, salaries and labor compensation is 45%, while the highest tax rate for operating income of a sole proprietorship is 35%. Through this conversion, the tax rate is reduced NS. But more importantly, since sole proprietorship enterprises often have poor accounting and no accounts to check, we have introduced preferential policies for approved levies. In places like Beihai in Guangxi and Yichun in Jiangxi, in order to attract tax sources, the approved levy rate is often very low, and the actual tax burden can be reduced to less than 10%. Internet celebrity anchors take advantage of this to evade tax.
Taking Sydney as an example, if the income of 84.46 million yuan is paid according to the law, it will cost more than 37.8 million yuan, but in fact she only paid a few million yuan. Finally, Hangzhou The tax bureau verified that she evaded 30.37 million yuan of personal income tax. Therefore, it is necessary to pay taxes, add a five-tenthousandth per cent late fee per day, and impose a double fine, totaling 65.55 million yuan.
The fine for tax evasion is usually between 50% and five times. Based on the fact that the two people involved in the case are more cooperative after the tax audit is filed, they will take the initiative before the case is verified. Paying part of the tax has the circumstance to actively mitigate the harmful consequences of illegal activities, so the Hangzhou Taxation Bureau doubled the fine.
Of course, the method of tax evasion by Internet celebrity anchors is not limited to this. It is also possible to split hidden income by signing a yin and yang contract, which is a “freak”, refer to Zheng Shuang In case of tax evasion, you can receive a five-fold fines package.
2. Is the “individually approved collection” tax planning or tax evasion?
veryThose who know more about taxation may be confused. Isn’t the approved tax collection of a sole proprietorship an allowable tax preference? How did it become tax evasion? There are also many media friends who consulted, where is the boundary between tax planning and tax evasion?
Through the establishment of a sole proprietorship, the use of the approved collection policy itself is considered a tax incentive, but it should be noted that the original intention of this policy is for those who cannot afford to hire professional accountants and do not have Since individual industrial and commercial households and small-scale sole proprietorship enterprises with sound accounting data do not have accounts to check, for the convenience of collection and management, they simply approve the collection.
For those Internet celebrity anchors with annual income of several million, tens of millions or even over 100 million, can you believe that he can’t afford to hire an accountant? Therefore, I personally feel that if Internet celebrity anchors set up sole proprietorships, establish and improve accounting information, cooperate with the tax bureau to check accounts and collect taxes, and reduce personal income tax from 45% of salary and labor remuneration to 35% of operating income, honestly The actual payment of taxes is within a reasonable and legal scope and will not discriminate against you just because you are an Internet celebrity anchor. This is the so-called tax planning.
However, if the Internet celebrity anchors can set up accounts but deliberately fail to do so, they will specifically select those tax depressions that require tax sources to register as sole proprietorships, and enjoy the ultra-low approved levy rate , And then fictitious business, set up a number of sole proprietorships to issue invoices, further reduce tax payments by splitting income, lack of reasonable business purposes, tax loss is very serious, this is nothing to say, it is tax evasion.
Obviously, this kind of operation is most likely to be unknown to the Internet celebrity anchor, and someone “points” behind it. The Hangzhou Taxation Bureau discovered that Li was suspected of planning, implementing and helping the two Internet celebrity anchors to evade tax and interfered with the investigation of the tax authority. This is really the “Yigao” people are bold and dare to interfere with the investigation. It is conceivable that Li must have patted his chest to guarantee the two anchors, “This is tax planning, no problem, no risk!” But he was based on the “experience judgment” based on the incomplete system and loopholes in the collection and management, which looked like professional reality. amateur. With the continuous improvement of the system and the continuous optimization of tax collection and management, I warmly remind Li, these so-called “tax planning experts”, do not provide such suggestions as “tax evasion in the name of planning”. Paying taxes in accordance with the law is the biggest plan. Take care!
In fact, the tax loopholes caused by the approved collection of sole proprietorships have already attracted the attention of the tax authorities in the 2018 Fan Bingbing tax evasion case and started to plug the loopholes. Since the beginning of this year, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places have made it clear that all newly established sole proprietorship enterprises shall check their accounts and levy taxes, and are not allowed to approve and levy taxes. It can also be understood that among the piles of sole proprietorships registered in Sydney, Guangxi Beihai and Hainan still exist, while those established in ShanghaiSeveral marketing planning centers and studios have been cancelled.
3. Will the fines of internet celebrity anchors trigger a wave of tax reimbursement?
The rapid development of e-commerce and live broadcast industries has also brought about serious tax losses. Strengthening the tax collection and management of the live broadcast industry is necessary to regulate the tax order and maintain a fair and competitive market environment. Only by paying taxes fairly can the healthy and sustainable development of the live broadcast industry be promoted. The government’s attitude towards the development of emerging businesses is tolerant and prudent, but it will never condone crazy tax evasion.
In March this year, the Central Office and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration”, which clearly stated the requirements for industries, regions and groups of people where tax evasion and avoidance are frequent. Strengthening risk prevention, control and supervision. The very serious tax loss of the group of Internet celebrity anchors has become a social consensus, and the tax bureau can fully increase the collection and management of this group.
In September this year, the General Office of the State Administration of Taxation issued a notice to strengthen taxation management for practitioners in the entertainment field. Then, in October, the news reported that the Zhengzhou Taxation Bureau had levied more than 6.6 million yuan in taxes on an internet celebrity. Many netizens exclaimed after seeing the tax payment of more than 6 million yuan, “How much money do you have to earn!” Look at everyone’s cute look like “unseen in the world”. The starting price of Internet celebrity anchors is 7 digits. 8-digit numbers are not rare.
This time the taxes and fines of the two anchors are both 8 digits. I believe that the 8-digit fines should bring enough shock and warning to the live streaming industry. effect. After all, for anchors with serious tax losses, no amount of painstaking publicity about paying taxes according to the law may not be as direct as the arrest of an old king next door. Use the cases around this group to make this group feel painful, pay close attention to paying taxes and complete Tax obligations that were overdue.
In this sense, there will be a wave of “tax reimbursement” by Internet celebrity anchors before the end of the year, but it should be noted that the “tax replenishment tide” may not be seen . What has surfaced and been seen is only the tip of the iceberg. Those who are deterred and actively self-examine and pay taxes can often be exempted from fines and do not need to be exposed and seen.
Four. How to strengthen the tax collection and management of the live broadcast industry?
In the short term, the widespread application of big tax data has given the tax bureau more and more efficient means to strengthen collection and management. Use technologies such as web crawlers, It is easy to find tax risks and achieve precise supervision by comparing the live data, bank flow, bills, holding companies and other information of the Internet celebrity anchors. Of course, those top anchors who like to brag and say that they carry hundreds of millions of dollars at every turn may also pay the “bragging tax” for this. With big data, Internet celebrity anchors have become more and more transparent. As long as they are online, they have nowhere to escape. Therefore, in the short term, a period of focused supervision should be adopted to plug tax loopholes and standardize taxation order.
In the long run, to truly regulate the taxation of the live broadcast industry to promote the healthy development of this emerging business, the key is to break down departmental barriers and promote the taxation department and others to master data Interconnected departments, establish and improve income, property, consumption, and tax information systems, expand the application scope of tax big data, and leverage the development of artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies to achieve normalized automatic supervision. The relevant data of the Internet celebrity anchor can be automatically obtained by the tax system, and the back-end system calculates the tax, and pushes it to the online celebrity anchor for confirmation. The entire process is automated without human intervention. Where can escape”, taxation is fair.
(The author Ge Yuyu is an associate professor and head of the Department of Applied Economics, Shanghai National Accounting Institute)