Chinese provincial authorities have ordered celebrities and livestreamers to report tax-related crimes before 2022, just days after China’s “queen of livestreaming” was fined 1.34 billion yuan ($210 million) for tax evasion.
Top e-commerce livestreamer Viya, whose real name is Huang Wei, was fined on Monday by the tax bureau in Hangzhou, a city in eastern China, for hiding personal income and other offenses in 2019 and 2020.
On Wednesday, tax officials from China’s most economically prosperous cities and provinces posted identical notices on their websites ordering celebrities and livestreamers to conduct a self-review of any tax-related misdoings, correct these issues, and report to the relevant tax authorities.
“Before the end of 2021, correct tax-related issues and report them proactively to the tax bureau, (which) will lighten, mitigate or exempt tax penalties in accordance with the requirements of the notice,” the notice said.
“If the self-inspection and self-correction are still refused or not thorough, the tax bureau will deal with it seriously in accordance with laws and regulations.”
