Movie star scandal prompts changes in payment of taxes
In one of last year’s biggest celebrity scandals, A-list actress Fan Bingbing was fined 883 million yuan ($128 million) for tax evasion, highlighting a nationwide crackdown on the practice to regulate tax payments in the film and television sector.
On Oct 3, Fan — China’s highest-earning entertainer according to Forbes magazine in 2017 — posted an apology on her Weibo account two hours after Xinhua News Agency reported the fine, the largest of its kind in recent years.
On Oct 10, the State Administration of Taxation started a campaign to regulate tax payments, and ordered all companies in the sectors of film and television to audit all tax payments made since 2016.
Those who made remedial payments before Dec 31 will be exempt from administrative punishments, while those who refused to take action will be punished, according to the administration.