
Controversial Chinese actress Zheng Shuang’s terrible 2021 continues, with tax authorities revealing she has been hit with a 299 million yuan ($46.1 million) fine for failing to declare her true taxable income, according to reports on Chinese state television network CCTV.
Following a surrogacy scandal in January that saw her dropped as a brand ambassador for Prada, Chinese tax authorities in April opened an investigation into allegations Zheng had used “yin and yang” contracts (in which “official” and “unofficial” payments for entertainers are documented) to conceal her income. The practice of yin and yang contracts first came to widespread attention in 2018 when superstar Fan Bingbing was fined 883 million yuan ($129 million at the time the fine was levied) for failing to declare her income in full.
According to a spokesperson from the Shanghai Taxation Bureau quoted by local media, Zheng was paid 156 million yuan ($24 million) for her role in a 2019 television series, of which only 48 million yuan ($7.4 million) was officially declared. In total, Zheng was found to have failed to declare 191 million yuan ($29.45 million) from 2019 to 2020, evading taxes totalling 45.27 million yuan (almost $7 million), and underpaying other taxes to the value of 26.52 million yuan ($4 million).
News of Zheng’s fine comes hours after Chinese netizens began noticing the removal of several celebrities from local internet sites. The wildly popular costume drama Sword of Legends, which starred Zheng, now appears unavailable to view in China, and on Thursday evening, Fendi ambassador Zhao Wei’s name was also removed from the credits of works she has starred in on major video streaming sites, including Tencent Video, iQiyi and Youku. There is no official reason for Zhao’s apparent online ban, though speculation has run rampant on Weibo, pushing the topic “Zhao Wei Banned” to the top of that platform’s trending news list.
Singer, Huo Zun, who has recently been publicly accused of playboy behaviour by his ex-girlfriend on social media, also appears to have had his works removed from streaming sites.
Read More at https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/china/actress-zheng-shuang-fined-46-million-for-tax-evasion-more-celebs-disappear-from-chinas-internet
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