Tax recovery, late fees and fines according to law, totaling 1.341 billion yuan! On December 20, the tax department announced the results of the treatment of network anchor Weiya's tax evasion, which triggered widespread heated discussion.

This case is another major case recently investigated and exposed by the tax department, which further plunged the webcast and platform economy into a vortex of public opinion. A series of questions remain to be solved: is it a good business to bring goods with webcast? What impact will strengthening the tax supervision of network anchor bring to the platform economy? Will the new format be "injured"?

The income of online popular anchor is high, but the public morality consciousness and legal literacy have not been improved

In recent years, the rise of the Internet has injected strong vitality into the live broadcasting industry. Some Internet Celebrities use their image advantages to gather popularity on social media. Relying on a large group of fans, they carry out targeted marketing by means of live broadcasting, goods and rewards. They have obtained huge profits in a short period of time and rapidly grow into traffic stars and high-income people.

"In recent years, China's citizens' tax awareness has been significantly improved, but there is still much room for improvement. There is still a long way to go to improve citizens' tax awareness, especially public figures." According to Lu Xiaoming, member of the CPPCC National Committee and President of the Law School of Guangdong University of Finance and economics, network anchors are public figures, especially popular network anchors, who have a wide range of influence. They should set an example and consciously fulfill their tax obligations. "Unfortunately, the income of some network anchors has increased, but their social ethics awareness and legal literacy have not improved accordingly, which has become the fundamental reason for their tax evasion."

According to Ma Jin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference and full-time vice chairman and Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Zhigong party, some network anchor practitioners have weak legal awareness and have a fluke in paying taxes according to law; In terms of tax supervision, China is still implementing the traditional way of self active declaration and random inspection by the tax department. There are still some shortcomings in adapting to the business form and profit model of the webcast industry; In addition, the low access threshold for employees in the webcast industry is an important reason for the "tax evasion" of network anchors in batches.

"The punishment for Weiya's tax evasion has sent an important signal: any industry should operate according to law, and there is no place outside the law. Whether it is an emerging business model or a traditional business model, on the one hand, the government encourages hard-working to get rich and pay taxes according to law, and at the same time, it should resolutely crack down on tax evaders, so as to maintain the fairness and justice of the market. In fact, it is also protecting the market The interests of workers. " Ma Jin further explained.

△ the State Administration of Taxation and Shanghai Municipal Taxation Bureau issued a circular on December 22, pointing out that paying taxes according to law is the obligation of every citizen. Star artists, network anchors and other public figures should strictly abide by the provisions of the tax law and correct tax related problems before the end of the year.


Establish an information sharing mechanism to avoid blind spots in financial and tax supervision

Because of tax evasion, viya is not the only one who "overturned". In September this year, the State Administration of Taxation issued a special notice requiring to further strengthen the daily tax management of employees in the field of culture and entertainment. For individual studios and enterprises established by star artists and network anchors, they should be guided to establish an account system according to law and regulations, and apply for tax payment by means of audit collection. So far, thousands of network anchors have taken the initiative to pay taxes.

Ma Jin admitted that multiple factors such as multiple sources of income and opaque information of network anchor practitioners have further exacerbated the difficulty of tax investigation. At the same time, it has also exposed the blind spot of financial and tax supervision. Different from the traditional tax localization characteristics, the "borderless" of the business scope of the webcast industry has brought difficulties to tax supervision. "The current supervision is mainly aimed at platform companies and network companies with live broadcasting goods. Although some anchor broadcasters with goods fail to meet the conditions for the establishment of the company due to their limited income, there are no perfect ways and methods for the supervision of other high-traffic live broadcasting carriers."

So, according to the "borderless" characteristics of webcast, how to avoid the blind spot of financial and tax supervision? Ma Jin suggested that to further improve the tax mechanism, the live broadcasting platform should shoulder its due tax related responsibilities, urge and assist the platform anchor to handle tax declaration according to law and regulations, and timely submit the network anchor information and platform operation status to the wechat and tax departments.

"At the same time, it is suggested to establish an information sharing mechanism for network anchor, platform and tax department. That is, as long as you sell something and have a transaction, this information will be naturally shared by the platform and tax department, so as to realize reasonable withholding tax." Ma Jin further said that the establishment of information sharing mechanism also needs the support of technical means.

"Can this be done? Of course, we need to further explore its feasibility from the legal perspective." Ma Jin added.

Establish the industry "blacklist" system as soon as possible

There have been constant disturbances in the live broadcasting field, and they have been ill for a long time. In Ma Jin's view, with the continuous increase of tax supervision and the increasing power of tax big data, any lucky and desperate tax evasion will be severely punished according to law.

So, is live delivery still a good business? In Ma Jin's view, the healthy and orderly development of new business forms is playing an increasingly important role in promoting economic development and expanding employment space. The state still supports and encourages everyone to realize employment through this emerging business model.

How to promote the development of webcast specification in the next step? Ma Jin suggested: first, do a good job in publicity, education and guidance to enhance citizens' awareness of abiding by the law; Second, establish the industry "blacklist" system as soon as possible.

During the national two sessions this year, Ma Jin passed the proposal on strengthening financial and tax supervision related to live video broadcasting, calling for paying attention to the social impact of "online Red economy" and establishing a list of public figures with bad deeds. For the Weiya tax evasion incident, Ma Jin again mentioned the "blacklist" and further called for the establishment and improvement of industry norms and the strengthening of their implementation.

"We should further publicize the illegal and immoral acts of network anchors, such as tax evasion, including network anchors, network platforms, brokerage companies, etc. if such acts occur once, we can recover the fine and other relatively light treatment, but should be subject to the corresponding punishment and restraint of the industry; if they occur twice or more, it is a matter of integrity , the network red anchor and its platform will be subject to certain restrictions. " In Ma Jin's view, the establishment of the industry "blacklist" system can further urge and guide the webcast practitioners to consciously abide by the law, and further promote the emerging business model to develop in a more standardized, legal and healthy direction.