Relevant person in charge of the First Inspection Bureau of Shanghai Taxation Bureau answers reporters' questions on Zheng Shuang's tax evasion case

　　The First Inspection Bureau of the Shanghai Municipal Taxation Bureau received a report on Zheng Shuang's use of the "yin-yang contract" for tax evasion in early April this year, and filed a case for inspection in accordance with the law.

At present, the facts of the case have been ascertained and dealt with in accordance with the law.

The person in charge of the First Inspection Bureau of Shanghai Taxation Bureau answered reporters' questions on the investigation and handling of the case.

　　1. Please introduce the specific situation of the taxation department's investigation and handling of Zheng Shuang's tax evasion case.

　　Answer: The Zheng Shuang tax evasion case involves multiple regions, multiple companies, and multiple performing arts projects across the country, and the case is complicated.

Under the guidance and supervision of the State Administration of Taxation, with the cooperation and assistance of the tax authorities in Tianjin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Beijing and other places, and under the specific leadership of the Shanghai Taxation Bureau, our bureau uses facts as the basis and the law as the criterion to promote the investigation and handling of cases. .

Over the past four months, comprehensive and in-depth inspections have been conducted on Zheng Shuang’s use of the “yin and yang contract” for suspected tax evasion, as well as the performance projects that Zheng Shuang participated in after the taxation order of the film and television industry was regulated in 2018, as well as the tax issues related to enterprises and personnel. Dozens of enterprises and institutions and hundreds of witnesses in various provinces and cities conducted evidence collection, investigated and analyzed a large amount of financial and capital data, ascertained the facts of the case and handled it in accordance with the law.

　　After investigation, Zheng Shuang starred in the TV series "A Chinese Ghost Story" in 2019. He agreed with the producer for a remuneration of 160 million yuan, and actually obtained 156 million yuan, which was collected in two parts.

Among them, the first part is 48 million yuan, which changes personal income from corporate income for false declaration and evasion of taxes; the second part is 108 million yuan, where the producer signs a false contract with Zheng Shuang’s actual control company in the form of "capital increase" Payment, evade industry supervision to obtain “astronomical remuneration”, conceal income, make false declarations, and evade taxes.

In the "A Chinese Ghost Story" project, Zheng Shuang's illegal facts were found to be 43.027 million yuan in tax evasion, and other taxes were underpaid 16.177800 yuan.

At the same time, it was found that after regulating the taxation order of the film and television industry in 2018, Zheng Shuang had other performance income of 35.07 million yuan. There were also problems with changing the nature of personal income in the name of corporate income and making false declarations. According to Zheng Shuang’s illegal facts, he was determined to be tax evasion by 224.26. RMB 10,342,900 in other taxes were underpaid.

In total, Zheng Shuang failed to declare his personal income of 191 million yuan from 2019 to 2020, evaded taxes of 45,269,600 yuan, and underpaid other taxes of 26,520,700 yuan.

　　According to the provisions of Article 32 and Article 63 of the Tax Collection and Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, as well as Articles 2, 10, and 11 of the Individual Income Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China, According to Articles 1 and 19 of the Provisional Regulations on Value-Added Tax of the People's Republic of China, Zheng Shuang was required to collect taxes, charge late fees, and impose a fine of 299 million yuan in total.

Among them, the tax recovered according to the law was 71,790,300 yuan, plus a late fee of 8,889,800 yuan; a four-fold fine of 30,695,700 yuan was imposed on the portion of tax evasion that changed the nature of income; and the so-called "capital increase" was imposed on the portion of tax evasion that completely concealed income. "The fine is 188 million yuan.

　　In accordance with the relevant provisions of Article 44 of the "Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China," our bureau delivered the "Notice of Tax Administrative Punishment Matters" to Zheng Shuang in accordance with the law, and Zheng Shuang did not apply for a hearing.

After that, the "Tax Treatment Decision" and the "Tax Administrative Penalty Decision" were formally issued to Zheng Shuang in accordance with the law, and he was restricted to pay taxes, late fees and fines within the prescribed time limit.

At present, Zheng Shuang has paid all taxes and late fees within the prescribed time limit.

The taxation department is urging it to pay the fine within the prescribed time limit according to law.

　　2. In this case, some of the fines were four times and some were five times. How was this determined?

　　Answer: According to the first paragraph of Article 63 of the Tax Collection and Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, if a taxpayer evades tax, the tax authority shall recover the non-paid or underpaid taxes and late fees, and impose non-payment or underpayment. A fine of more than 50% and less than five times the tax paid.

In this case, considering that the Zheng Shuang tax evasion case occurred after the taxation order of the film and television industry was regulated in 2018, the subjective intention was obvious. Different illegal acts were distinguished, and the tax authority imposed strict penalties in accordance with the law.

Among them, the tax evasion part that changes the nature of the income is fined four times; the so-called "capital increase" is completely concealed for the income tax evasion part, because the circumstances are more serious, and the five times the "top box" fine is imposed.

　　3. Earlier, some netizens said that Zheng Shuang and the producer had lifted the "capital increase" agreement.

Why do we need to recover the taxes involved in this part of the funds?

　　Answer: According to investigation, Zheng Shuang starred in the TV series "A Chinese Ghost Story" in 2019, and actually received 156 million yuan in remuneration, 108 million of which was paid by the producer through "capital increase" to Zheng Shuang's actual control of the company.

The two parties first signed the so-called "capital increase agreement" to evade the supervision of the "expensive remuneration" by industry authorities, and then evaded tax through false declarations.

In 2020, after Zheng Shuang and Zhang Heng filed a civil lawsuit in the court for a dispute, the relevant parties were worried that the fact of the "expensive remuneration" was revealed and the "capital increase agreement" was cancelled.

In accordance with the "Personal Income Tax Law of the People's Republic of China", "Interim Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Value-Added Tax", and "Measures for the Implementation of the Pilot Program for the Reform of Business Tax to Value-Added Tax", Zheng Shuang has provided performing arts services and actually received remuneration in 2019, and tax laws have already occurred Tax payment obligations should be declared in accordance with the law; the cancellation of the “capital increase agreement” does not change the established fact that Zheng Shuang’s failure to declare truthfully leads to underpayment of taxes, nor does it affect the determination of the nature and amount of his subjective and deliberate tax evasion. The taxes involved in this part of the remuneration shall be recovered, and late fees shall be imposed and corresponding fines shall be imposed.

　　4. Will Zheng Shuang be held criminally responsible?

　　Answer: Article 201 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that if a taxpayer has evaded tax payment, he shall pay the tax payable and pay late fees after the tax authority has issued a notice of recovery in accordance with the law. No criminal responsibility shall be pursued; however, those who have received criminal penalties for evading tax payment within five years or have been given administrative penalties more than twice by the taxation authority are exceptions.

　　In this case, Zheng Shuang was punished by the tax authority for tax evasion for the first time and had not received criminal penalties for evading tax payment before. The corresponding taxes and late fees have been paid in full within the prescribed time limit.

If he can pay the fine within the prescribed time limit, he will not be held criminally liable; if he fails to pay the fine within the prescribed time limit, the tax authority will transfer it to the public security authority for handling.

　　5. Why should the taxation department deal with Zhang Heng?

　　Answer: Although Zhang Heng is one of the whistleblowers of this case, the taxation department's inspection found that he was suspected of helping Zheng Shuang evade tax through planning and organization, communication and contact, and specific operations.

Specifically: In December 2018, Zhang Heng, as the agent of Zheng Shuang’s "A Chinese Ghost Story", was responsible for the signing of the performing arts contract for Zheng Shuang's filming of "A Chinese Ghost Story", remuneration negotiations, contract splitting, and collection of payments. And specifically planned to draft a "capital increase agreement" and set up a "cover company" to help Zheng Shuang cover up the "expensive remuneration", evade the supervision of industry authorities, and evade the payment of tax obligations, which has a bad impact.

Our bureau has filed and checked Zhang Heng according to law, and will deal with it separately according to law.

　　The person in charge of the First Inspection Bureau of the Shanghai Taxation Bureau pointed out that the bureau will earnestly implement the deployment of the State Administration of Taxation and the Shanghai Taxation Bureau, and continue to increase the "double randomness, one disclosure" in response to the current new methods of tax evasion by individual practitioners in the film and television industry. "The intensity of spot checks, severely investigate and expose various malicious tax evasion, further regulate the taxation order of the film and television industry, and promote the long-term healthy and standardized development of the film and television industry.