China’s crackdown on tax evasion could victimise actors from Taiwan
TAIPEI: Taiwanese actors Mark Chao and Ethan Ruan are among actors who could be victimised by China’s investigation into nearly 200 actors for tax evasion.
Top actress Fan Bingbing has already been barred from leaving China, and her manager has reportedly remained under detention.
Last June, Beijing started investigating all actors who made more than 10 million yuan ( RM6.4 million) per movie and fi nd out whether they had evaded any taxes.
According to sources, the list of potential suspects consists of almost 200 entertainers, and includes top Taiwanese actors such as Ethan Ruan, Mark Chao, Eddie Peng and Wallace Huo.
They might be especially at risk since the channels they used to repatriate earnings from China to Taiwan might not be all above board.
China initially announced measures against so- called “unreasonably high” earnings for entertainers last September, but due to the far-reaching implications, they were never really implemented — until now.
The infl ation of movie star salaries also played a part in an increasing occurrence of scams in the Chinese movie world, with the forging of box office returns one of the most frequent elements. A box office smash helped boost the share prices of the production companies and attract more investors.