What’s new: Chinese actor Deng Lun has to pay 106 million yuan ($16.6 million) in overdue taxes, late fees and fines for tax evasion, Shanghai’s tax authority announced Tuesday.
The Shanghai tax bureau, which says since last year it has been on a big-data-driven campaign to make sure showbiz stars pay their fair share, determined that Deng had been evading taxes, according a Q&A posted on its website.
The tax bureau said it had notified Deng about his tax issues, but he failed to “thoroughly rectify” the matter, which led them to launch a full-on investigation. That investigation found that Deng evaded 47.7 million yuan in personal income taxes by dressing up personal income as corporate income, which is taxed at a lower rate, according to the Q&A. It also determined that he had shorted his tax bill by another 14 million yuan.
Deng, 29, gained wide popularity for his roles in a number of TV dramas. He issued an apology Tuesday on the Chinese social media platform Weibo before his account disappeared. He had had more than 40 million followers on the platform. At least two brands announced on Weibo that they had terminated endorsement deals with Deng, according to their respective posts.
The background: In September, the State Taxation Administration pledged tightened supervision of entertainers, after tax evasion cases involving top stars such as Zheng Shuang and Fan Bingbing surfaced.
Since then, a few celebrity e-commerce livestreamers such as “Weiya,” who also goes by Huang Wei, have been caught evading taxes and subsequently fined.
Contact reporter Zhang Yukun (yukunzhang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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