Livestream host ordered to pay $16m penalty for tax avoidance

A livestream host in Fuzhou, Jiangxi province, has been ordered to pay 108 million yuan ($16 million) in back taxes, late fees and fines, according to the local tax authority.

With clues from big data analysis, the authority carried out an audit into Xu Guohao, finding the online celebrity evaded almost 38.9 million yuan of tax in his livestreaming business from 2019 to 2020, the majority of which was personal income tax.

Xu evaded 19.1 million yuan of the income tax by falsely reporting his income from audience money rewards, the authority said. For this, he needs to pay penalties worth twice the amount of the evaded tax.

The decision for the administrative penalty has been sent.

The authority vowed to further beef up tax supervision over livestream hosts with the help of big data technology.

It said it will remind hosts of their violations before summoning or investigating them. If violations are verified in investigation, the authority will resort to media exposure to help promote regulated development of the livestreaming sector.