During the year, more than 700 artist agency companies were cancelled, including many first-line stars. Can they be held accountable in the future? The lawyer said
Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client, September 12th (Zhao Jiaran) strictly prohibits "sky-price pay", yin and yang contracts, severely punishes tax evasion, and has zero tolerance for bad artists... Recently, with the advent of strong supervision, rectification actions around the entertainment circle Frequently, artist studios, which are closely related to the taxation of celebrities' income, have also attracted attention.
The Sino-Singapore Jingwei client noted that recently Ruby Lin, Deng Chao, Tang Yan and other well-known artist-related companies have been cancelled, and the number of cancellations of artist studios has increased significantly.
Why should an artist register a studio?
What is the purpose of logging off one after another?
This year, more than 700 artist agency companies cancelled
Not long ago, Zheng Shuang was punished by the Shanghai Taxation Bureau for tax evasion and tax evasion.
In addition,
his ex-husband Zhang Heng also helped Zheng Shuang evade taxes by breaking up contracts and setting up "cover companies".
Tianyancha App shows that Zheng Shuang is the legal representative of 7 companies. Except for Shanghai Gegu Entertainment Development Co., Ltd., the other 6 are studios; 4 of them have been cancelled.
In addition, the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client noticed that at the end of August, Ruby Lin’s affiliated Dongyang Hengdian Ruby Film and Television Culture Studio had a business change, and the status of the company was also changed from existence to cancellation. The reason for cancellation was the resolution of dissolution. Previously, Ruby Lin’s husband, Huo Jianhua, was connected. The studio was also cancelled at the end of 2020.
In the same month, the Shanghai Lexie Cultural Media Studio associated with Liu Yuxin was also cancelled.
After the cancellation, the studio where Liu Yuxin served as a legal person changed from two to one.
It is understood that Liu Yuxin participated in the second season of the talent show "Youth Have You" in 2020 and won the first place. At the end of 2020, Shanghai Liu Yuxin Music Studio was established; the above two studios are 100% owned and registered by Liu Yuxin The capital is 100,000 yuan.
According to incomplete statistics, the recently cancelled artists from affiliated companies include Wei Daxun, Deng Chao, Tang Yan, Wen Wen, Ma Weiwei, Zhao Benshan, Zhu Zhengting, Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi, Shen Teng, Jing Boran, etc.
According to the data from Tianyan Check,
as of September 12, based on industrial and commercial registration, over 700 artist brokerage companies have been cancelled since 2021, of which over 100 were cancelled in June.
Looking back over the past few years, the growth rate of the registration of artist agency companies is very obvious.
The data shows that the annual registration growth rate of related companies in 2016 was as high as 99.07%, and the number of new companies in 2018 exceeded 3,000, reaching a growth peak in recent years; however,
as of September 12, there will be about 260 new entertainer-related companies in 2021. A year-on-year decrease of 278%.
While the growth rate of artist agency companies has slowed down significantly, more artists have chosen to write off their studios in recent years.
According to data from Tianyancha App, in 2019 and 2020, more than 1,000 artist broker-related companies in China have cancelled.
Why do stars set up studios?
Public data shows that there are currently more than 10,000 companies in China that have "artist brokerage" operating, surviving, moving in, and moving out.
Over 40% of entertainer-related companies have registered capital of less than 2 million, and 22% of related companies have registered capital of more than 10 million.
In addition, there are nearly 700 companies with "studios" in their names, among which sole proprietorship enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households account for 99.6%.
From the perspective of geographical distribution, Zhejiang Province is the well-deserved "first province of artist brokerage", accounting for 28% of the country's total; from the perspective of industry classification, more than 60% of artist brokerage related companies are located in the culture, sports and entertainment industries. , There are also some companies engaged in leasing and business service industries.
Why do celebrities set up studios, sometimes more than one?
In this regard, a financial officer of the star studio who did not want to be named told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client that
the personal studio registered by the artist is a sole proprietorship. According to relevant regulations, the studio does not need to pay corporate income tax, and the approved tax rate is relatively low. .
In addition, some artists with higher incomes will also set up multiple studios, each with a small number of people, and multiple studios established by the same person can pay taxes separately, not combined, which saves tax again. .
According to the Beijing Business Daily, practitioners said that when performing arts activities, if an artist obtains labor remuneration through a brokerage company in the form of wages, or in the name of an individual, according to the current personal income tax withholding rate table, residents’ personal wages When the accumulative withholding and prepayment of taxable income exceeds 960,000 yuan, the withholding rate is 45%. If it is for labor services, the withholding rate for the part of more than 50,000 yuan is 40%.
The above-mentioned practitioners said that due to the relatively high remuneration of celebrities, it means that half of the relevant part has to be used to pay taxes, but it is different if the studio is set up: if the remuneration is paid through the studio, not only the tax rate will be reduced, but also It will be calculated based on the actor’s personal income, which becomes the corresponding operating income. In addition, in order to attract enterprises to settle in, many areas will provide preferential policies to related studios, reduce tax rates or return part of the tax in the form of incentives. Makes the tax paid lower.
Can log off the studio to escape the follow-up accountability? Lawyer: No!
So, will the cancellation of the studio become a shortcut for artists to evade legal liability?
Li Min, senior partner of Shanghai Hansheng Law Firm, told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client that, taking tax evasion as an example, from the perspective of unit crime,
as long as the unit does constitute a crime of tax evasion, regardless of whether the unit still exists or has been cancelled, the relevant unit will be investigated. Criminal liability of personnel.
"If the purpose of establishing studios and affiliated companies by artists is to evade the payment of personal income tax, then the tax authorities will punish individuals rather than studios or affiliated companies. Therefore,
even if the studio is cancelled
, it will
not affect the individual's accountability. But objectively, the cancellation of the studio will make it more difficult for the tax authorities to investigate the facts.
" Li Min said.
Yue Qishan, a senior partner of Beijing Yuecheng Law Firm, said that
if an artist does deliberately evade taxes, even if he cancels his studio, he will be punished.
Specifically, if the fact of tax evasion and tax evasion is caused by mistake and there is no subjective violation, then the tax authority can recover the tax and late fee within three years; if the artist and studio have malicious intent to evade tax, then the recovery period There is no time limit.
In addition, when the studio is cancelled, the loan may not be settled.
Li Min analyzed that according to the "Civil Code" and other relevant laws and regulations, companies and enterprises should be liquidated before they are cancelled.
In the event that the loan is cancelled when the loan is not settled, the creditor can claim to the court that the company’s shareholders, actual controllers, etc. shall be liable for the debts.
Pan Yan, secretary-general of the China Performance Industry Association, said that
setting up a studio is no longer a depression that can evade responsibility.
From the perspective of industry self-discipline, I hope to avoid violations of laws and regulations as much as possible.
In daily work, the brokerage agencies, artist studios, and brokerage team practitioners should all raise their legal awareness and strengthen management.
Pan Yan pointed out that on the basis of the existing self-discipline management methods for performing arts personnel, it is necessary to further improve the moral self-discipline review procedures and disciplinary measures; in addition, brokerage agencies are the next step to strengthen self-discipline management. I hope that brokerage agencies will do their work in In the foregoing, it is possible to truly implement corporate responsibilities and maintain the image of the entire industry.
(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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