Change the nature of income and change personal labor income into business income
Why the film and television and webcasting industries have become the hardest hit areas for tax evasion
Through the establishment of a sole proprietorship enterprise, the nature of income is changed, and personal labor income is converted into business income, thereby evading taxes.
Recently, the taxation department has announced several cases of tax evasion by high-income groups such as the film and television industry and the webcast industry. This main method of personal tax evasion has attracted widespread attention from the society.
Due to the large differences between the tax calculation methods and tax rates of personal labor income and business income in my country, some people will achieve the purpose of paying less or not paying taxes through certain tax planning. If tax planning is improper or subjectively deliberate, it will happen Tax evasion.
The current personal income tax law in my country combines the four incomes of wages and salaries, labor remuneration, author's remuneration, and royalties obtained by resident individuals into comprehensive income, and uniformly applies an excess progressive tax rate of 3%-45% for taxation; individual business income obtained separately For tax payment, an excess progressive tax rate of 5%-35% is applicable.
Sole proprietorships and partnerships do not need to pay corporate income tax, but are levied on individual income tax based on business income.
Shi Wenwen, director of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law and expert member of the State Administration of Taxation Tax Collection and Management Law Revision Working Group, introduced that if the tax is paid according to labor remuneration, the maximum marginal tax rate can reach 45%, but after it is converted into operating income, the maximum tax rate is 35 %, the tax avoidance space is large.
In the actual tax collection process, if the prescribed conditions are met, the taxation department can use the method of approved collection to collect taxes on business income, which further increases the tax avoidance space for taxpayers.
Approved collection is the act and process of verifying the tax payable in accordance with statutory standards and rules when the specific financial situation of the taxpayer cannot be accurately identified.
In market operations, if the taxpayer’s accounting books are imperfect, the information is incomplete, and it is difficult to check the accounts, or for other reasons it is difficult to accurately determine the taxpayer’s tax payable, the taxation department will use the method of verification and collection to verify the taxpayer’s tax payable in accordance with the law.
Wang Huayu, associate professor of Kaiyuan Law School of Shanghai Jiaotong University and deputy director of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Center, told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that, generally speaking, under the conditions of approved collection, enterprises multiply their operating income by the taxable income rate. Then apply the corresponding tax rate to calculate the tax payable.
In the webcast industry, taking the personal income tax of a sole proprietorship as an example, if the taxable income rate is generally 10%-20% according to the approved method, even if the highest marginal tax rate of 35% of operating income is applied, the actual tax rate is Only 3.5-7%.
Shi Zhengwen said that the approved collection should only be applicable when the company has no accounts or is deemed to be a false account. If the company should establish an account without establishing an account or has already established an account, the use of the approved collection is not in compliance with the law.
As my country currently does not have a unified standard for the approved collection, and the relevant collection methods issued by various localities are not uniform, some high-income groups use this loophole to evade taxes.
Among them, the film and television industry and the web live broadcast industry are the hardest hit areas for tax evasion.
In September of this year, the State Administration of Taxation issued a notice requesting to further strengthen the daily tax management of practitioners in the cultural and entertainment field. For individual studios and enterprises established by celebrities and online anchors, they should be guided to establish an accounting system in accordance with laws and regulations, and adopt the method of auditing and collecting accounts. Tax declaration.
At the same time, it is necessary to carry out tax risk analysis on a regular basis, combined with the situation of personal income tax settlement and payment in 2020, give one-to-one risk warnings and urge rectification for celebrity artists and network anchors with tax-related risks.
On November 22, the taxation department announced the first batch of Internet anchors Sydney and Lin Shanshan that were investigated for tax evasion. Nearly a month later, the head anchor Wei Ya was also fined for tax evasion.
So far, thousands of anchors have taken the initiative to check and pay taxes.
Wang Huayu said that in the face of the emergence of new business formats, the government and relevant departments have adopted an attitude of encouragement and active support. In addition, after the reform of "delegation, regulation, and service", the tax authority's supervision has been changed to an "in-the-event and after-the-fact" model, which is relatively backward. The supervision method of webcasting provides opportunities for webcast practitioners, and the taxation awareness and compliance of tax laws of the anchors and practitioners also need to be improved.
Inadequate preparations in all aspects have led to industry-specific tax risks and tax evasion.
From a regulatory perspective, the current major difficulty in tax collection and management in the live broadcast industry is how to determine the nature of personal income, and there are also many disputes in the implementation.
In the newly revised Regulations for the Implementation of the Individual Income Tax Law, the contents of "remuneration for labor services" and "income from business operations" cover a wide range and have a certain degree of overlap. The composition of the income of network anchors is more complicated, which brings difficulties to the determination of the nature of income.
Shi Wenwen sighed that with the increase in the size of the live broadcast economy, if the supervision does not keep up, the country’s tax loss will be very serious, and it will also cause serious damage to social equity and it will also have a negative impact on the cultivation of correct social values. Adverse effects.
He believes that the tax authorities should adjust the direction and focus of tax supervision in real time in accordance with changes in economic business conditions.
The well-known scholar of fiscal and taxation law suggested that the tax authorities should combine centralized investigations and basic management construction in the future, not only strengthen tax inspections in accordance with the law, but also strengthen tax law publicity and education and tax guidance, and do a good job of basic management for the entire industry’s anchors to pay taxes. And service work to improve tax law compliance awareness and ability.
At the same time, strengthen the supervision of tax-related intermediary agencies that provide tax planning consulting services.
Shi Wenwen said that at present, many tax planning has crossed the red line of the law.
The establishment of shell companies in "tax depressions" with no economic substance and mainly for the purpose of not paying or underpaying taxes should become the focus of future supervision. "This is essentially tax evasion."
Wang Huayu expects that the taxation department will use this live broadcast industry tax inspection as an opportunity to standardize the management of approved collection and consider the appropriate optimization of the tax rate structure.
Our newspaper, Beijing, December 21st, by wire
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Junbin Source: China Youth Daily