Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 20th, title: Investigating Huang Wei's tax evasion case once again sounded the alarm for the development of live broadcast industry standardization still requires coordination among multiple departments
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Han Jie, Wang Yuxiao, and Qu Lingyan
On December 20, the tax department announced the results of the tax evasion of the network anchor Huang Wei (screen name: Wei Ya).
Huang Wei made false declarations of tax evasion by concealing personal income and changing the nature of the income by fictitious business. He was charged with tax recovery according to law, plus late fees and fined a total of 1.341 billion yuan.
Experts and scholars in the finance, taxation and legal fields believe that the taxation department’s decision on punishment reflects the authority and fairness of the tax law, and once again warned the webcasters that webcasting is not an “extra-legal place”, and that they must consciously pay taxes in accordance with the law and bear their income and status. Match social responsibility.
The punishment of Huang Wei reflects the uniformity of the rigidity of the tax law and the temperature of law enforcement
This case is another major case recently exposed by the tax authorities.
Many experts and scholars in the finance, taxation and legal fields believe that the people involved in this case have a high degree of social attention and large amounts of money involved. The investigation and exposure of the case demonstrates the determination and strength of the relevant departments to regulate the webcast industry.
According to the provisions of Article 63, Paragraph 1, of the Tax Collection and Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, taxpayers who evade tax shall be recovered by the tax authorities for the non-paid or underpaid taxes and late fees, and shall be punished for non-payment or underpayment A fine of more than 50% and less than five times the tax.
According to the person in charge of the Hangzhou Taxation Bureau, Huang Wei evaded 643 million yuan in taxes by concealing personal income, fictitious business conversion of the nature of the income and making false declarations, and underpaid other taxes by 60 million yuan.
For the part of concealed income tax evasion but voluntarily repaid and reported after the inspection and filing, a fine of 0.6 times; for the part of hidden income tax evasion that did not voluntarily repay, a fine of 4 times; for the part of the fictitious business that changes the nature of the income and falsely declares tax evasion , Impose a fine of 1 times.
Liu Jianwen, a professor at Peking University Law School, believes that in this case, the taxation department imposes different multiples of fines on the parties for different methods of tax evasion, which not only reflects the legal authority of investigation and punishment in accordance with the law, but also fully considers the circumstances of the parties to actively mitigate the consequences of illegal acts, reflecting the taxation. The department combines leniency and strictness, and insists on the unity of law enforcement and temperature.
In recent years, the platform economy and live delivery of goods have developed rapidly. The taxation department has effectively strengthened the taxation supervision and regulation of the new economy and new business forms, gave full play to the role of taxation big data, successively investigated and dealt with many tax evasion cases, and exposed major cases.
Relevant person in charge of the Inspection Bureau of the Hangzhou Taxation Bureau said in response to reporters that the taxation department continued to regulate the taxation order of the webcast industry. Analysis found that some webcasters had certain tax-related risks, and carried out risk inspections in a timely manner to remind relevant webcasters to pay taxes in accordance with the law. .
After analyzing and evaluating tax big data, it was found that Huang Wei was suspected of major tax evasion, and the rectification was not thorough after repeated reminders and urges by the tax authorities, so she filed a case in accordance with the law and carried out a comprehensive and in-depth tax inspection.
Many experts said that as taxation supervision continues to increase and the power of taxation big data becomes increasingly apparent, any act of evading and evading taxes by chance and risk will be severely punished in accordance with the law.
While standardizing supervision, the taxation department has given an inclusive self-examination and rectification period to practitioners in new business formats such as webcasting.
In September this year, the State Administration of Taxation issued a special notice stating that network anchors who can proactively report and promptly correct tax-related issues before the end of 2021 can be given a lighter, mitigated or exempted punishment in accordance with the law.
It is understood that thousands of people have taken the initiative to self-check and pay taxes.
The State Administration of Taxation also made it clear that it will severely investigate and deal with incomplete self-inspection and rectification, refusal to cooperate, or serious circumstances in accordance with the law.
"Paying taxes in accordance with the law is the obligation of every citizen. Network anchors should cherish the opportunity, actively self-examine and rectify, and consciously pay taxes and late fees." said Tang Jiqiang, a professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and chief researcher of the Xicai Think Tank.
"The state's support for the development of new economic and new business formats should not be a talisman for practitioners in new business formats to evade taxation obligations." Tang Jiqiang said that the webcast industry is not an "extra-legal land", not just a head anchor, everyone earns income and meets taxation standards. All network anchors should consciously pay taxes in accordance with the law.
The webcast industry should strengthen regulation and self-discipline
Relying on the live web marketing platform, webcasters use the interactivity and communication power of the Internet to market and promote enterprise products. They often gain many fans and have a certain degree of public influence. Their words and deeds not only represent individuals, but also affect fans and public.
Currently, Internet marketers have become a new profession recognized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other departments.
Yang Yanying, a professor at the School of Government Management of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that while web anchors and other emerging professionals enjoy the dividends brought about by the rapid development of new formats, they should consciously assume corresponding social responsibilities and fulfill their tax obligations in accordance with the law.
"Famous top webcasters have been punished for tax evasion, which is shocking and needs to be reflected." Zhang Bin, vice president of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that these "super high traffic" public figures evaded tax and not only harmed the country. Tax security has a negative impact on social morals, especially the values of young people.
"In recent years, the Internet celebrity economy has developed rapidly. The current business forms and profit models have allowed the Internet celebrity anchors to quickly become popular, and they can realize their traffic without any obstacles. Many teenagers even think that reading is not as good as being an internet celebrity. , Illusion of'popularity overnight', and no longer believe that down-to-earth efforts will seriously affect the healthy development of young people." Zhang Bin said.
The live broadcast industry is developing rapidly, but the standardized and mature industry norms that match it have not yet been formed.
Shi Zhengwen, director of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that due to the openness of the Internet platform, the entry barriers for practitioners in the live broadcast industry such as network anchors are low.
The behavior of webcasters cannot rely solely on personal self-discipline. The industry associations should play the role of incentives and restraints to supervise and guide webcasting practitioners to consciously abide by the law and to spread positive energy.
In 2020, the China Advertising Association issued the "Code of Conduct for Online Live Marketing", which regulates online live marketing activities from the five main bodies of merchants, anchors, platform operators, anchor service agencies, and participating users.
The promulgation of this industry's self-discipline is a powerful move to rectify the chaos of live broadcasts, regulate the behavior of all parties, and promote the healthy development of the industry.
While establishing and improving industry norms, it is necessary to increase the enforcement of norms.
"It is necessary to implement hierarchical and classified management of network platforms, brokerage companies, and network anchors, establish an industry'blacklist' system, and adopt industry boycotts or restrict disciplinary measures against network anchors who have illegal and unethical behaviors such as tax evasion." Central University of Finance and Taxation Finance and Taxation The dean of the college Bai Yanfeng pointed out, “In this case, according to the tax law, if the parties involved in the case can pay the corresponding taxes, late fees and fines within the prescribed time limit, they will not be held criminally liable, but they should be subject to corresponding penalties by the industry. The boat passed the water without a trace'."
The healthy development of the industry requires the consolidation of platform corporate responsibilities
Yang Xiaoqiang, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University Law School and director of the Taxation and Taxation Law Research Center, proposed that the case verified by the taxation department showed that Huang Wei concealed personal commission income obtained from the live broadcast platform from 2019 to 2020 and falsely declared tax evasion.
In this regard, live broadcast platforms must earnestly fulfill their regulatory responsibilities.
It is understood that at present, relevant laws and regulations for tax-related information submission of platform companies are not yet complete, and it is difficult for tax authorities to accurately grasp the true identity and income information of network anchors.
Online platforms and brokerage companies do not provide sufficient guidance for online anchors to pay taxes, and there are even some intermediaries that help online anchors to evade taxes, which endangers national tax security.
"The live broadcast platform directly pays remunerations to the network anchors, has a deep understanding of the income of the network anchors, and should take on the tax-related responsibilities, earnestly fulfill the obligation of notification of tax and withholding and payment, and regularly report to the network information and tax authorities. Send key network anchor identities, platform income and other information to prevent tax evasion from the source." Yang Xiaoqiang said.
"The taxation department has issued a notice to conduct joint inspections of relevant brokerage companies and brokers, online platform companies, intermediaries, and third parties who help design, plan, and implement tax evasion and avoidance behaviors, and handle them strictly in accordance with the law." The State Administration of Taxation Li Ping, deputy director of the Tax Science Research Institute, said that live broadcast platform companies must operate in good faith and conduct business in accordance with laws and regulations. They must not have a fluke mentality, and they must not make suggestions for tax evasion by network anchors.
Some platform persons in charge said that through the exposure of this case, they have further realized the supervision obligations of platform companies, will earnestly fulfill their personal income tax withholding and payment obligations in accordance with the law, supervise and assist platform anchors in handling tax declarations in accordance with laws and regulations, and actively cooperate with tax authorities Implement tax management in accordance with the law, and contribute to the healthy development of the live broadcast industry.
"We will clearly inform the webcasters of their tax obligations when they register, and we will jointly commit with the webcasters and brokerage companies to pay taxes in accordance with the law and take the responsibility from the source." The person in charge of a platform proposed that the next step will be to actively contact the relevant parties. The department filed the relevant systems for the payment of income and tax withholding of online anchors, strictly controlled the accounts of online anchors' remuneration, resolutely resisted the behavior of paying remuneration without issuing invoices, and promoted the high-quality development of the platform economy.
Standardizing industry management requires a concerted effort from multiple parties
The report "Live E-commerce Toward a Trillion Billion Market" released by KPMG and Alibaba Research Institute shows that the scale of live e-commerce will expand to 2 trillion yuan in 2021.
New economic and new business forms such as live broadcast e-commerce and Internet celebrity economy have become an important force in current economic development, and have played an active role in prospering the economy and promoting employment.
Xu Sheng, a researcher at the China Institute of Macroeconomics, said that diversified platforms and multi-group admissions have brought more possibilities for webcasting, but they have also increased the difficulty of supervision.
Network anchors work online, have no actual business address, and have strong liquidity. To a certain extent, there are problems with unclear regulatory responsibilities in various regions. It requires the concerted efforts of various departments and all parties to jointly promote the healthy and long-term development of the live broadcast industry.
"Traditional industries have experienced years of development and have established an industry accounting system, and the financial and taxation of employees and enterprises has been basically standardized and institutionalized. In contrast, the live broadcast industry still lacks similar industry standards." Xu Sheng proposed, webcast There are many sources of income, and the nature of income is divided into fuzzy areas. It is difficult to obtain accurate data on its upstream and downstream businesses from traditional channels. This objectively makes tax collection and management difficult, and also encourages tax evasion by practitioners.
Relevant departments should introduce financial management systems that adapt to the characteristics of the industry as soon as possible, and conduct standardized accounting of various incomes such as "pit fees", "rewards", and live broadcast commissions involved in live e-commerce, so as to provide basic protection for taxation according to law.
The implementation text suggests that through legislation or formulation of administrative regulations, the legal attributes and responsibilities of different entities and actions in the live delivery process can be further clarified, so as to provide a clear regulatory basis for the regulatory authorities, and to delineate a legal red line for operators. .
Regulating the development of the live broadcast industry, all relevant departments are working together.
In the future, we still need to focus on perfecting the system, focus on building a long-term supervision mechanism across departments and multiple fields, strengthen the exchange and sharing of tax-related information and coordinated handling of tax-related issues, intensify joint punishment, and form a work pattern of joint management. Promote the sound development of the industry at a higher level.