Another company went bankrupt and was fined more than 300 million!

As the saying goes, if you walk along the river, you will get your feet wet. In order to hand in a good report card, some sellers often use some "abnormal" means to increase their net profit. At the beginning of this year, "Zebao's parent company's tax payment notice of more than 10 million" was posted on the WeChat Moments of people in various circles.

Recently, the authorities have revealed a heavy fine, with one company being fined over 300 million yuan for tax. Not only that, a series of cross-border companies have also been caught. With the full implementation of the fourth phase of the Golden Tax, tax supervision will become more stringent, and sellers must not take chances.

Another company went bankrupt after being fined 360 million yuan

Recently, the Zhejiang Provincial Taxation Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation issued a notice of major tax law violations and dishonesty cases, which showed that Hangzhou Yishang Clothing Co., Ltd. had evaded taxes, with the amount of tax evasion exceeding 210 million yuan, and was fined a total of 360 million yuan.

A single stone can cause a thousand ripples. This heavy news spread quickly in the circle, and people in the industry marveled at the company's "courage".

It is understood that the company evaded taxes for as long as seven years. From January 2014 to June 2021, it evaded taxes and other means, and did not pay or underpaid 212.3793 million yuan in taxes. According to relevant laws and regulations of China, it was finally subject to administrative processing of recovering 213.9099 million yuan in taxes and an administrative penalty of 148.6655 million yuan in fines. In other words, the total amount of back taxes and fines exceeded 360 million yuan.

One thing worth noting is that Hangzhou Yishang Clothing may have already sensed the risks. In 2022, after receiving the tax investigation notice, it changed its entity and transferred its brand inlife to Hangzhou Qiugu Clothing Co., Ltd.

The company was founded in Hangzhou in 2009 and is mainly engaged in the textile and apparel industries. Its legal representative is Zhu Huashui, who was restricted from high consumption in February this year. In addition, Zhu Huashui established a graphic design studio in 2006 and Yinafu Clothing Company in 2014, but both have been deregistered.

There is no doubt that the tax bureau's severe punishment of tax evasion has also sounded a wake-up call to sellers in the e-commerce industry. Tax non-compliance will inevitably result in heavy penalties.

A number of cross-border e-commerce companies were investigated and fined over 10 million yuan in back taxes

As the e-commerce industry continues to develop, there are many anchors and merchants in China who evade taxes. The most intense response in the industry is that top anchors such as Wei Ya and Xue Li were exposed to evade taxes, with the amount reaching billions. In addition, the tax bureau is also conducting strict investigations, including e-commerce companies in Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other places are also under investigation, and the tax-related order flow is mostly over 50 million.

Recently, the fire of tax compliance has spread to cross-border e-commerce companies and is getting more and more intense. An industry insider revealed: "Just after returning to work after the Chinese New Year, the company was investigated. Fortunately, it only paid tens of thousands of yuan in arrears." Coincidentally, another seller also said that the upstream supplier was suspected of false invoices, and the amount was quite large, and the company had to cooperate with the investigation.

According to incomplete statistics, in 2024 alone, many cross-border export companies were investigated for tax evasion, with the amount involved ranging from tens of millions to tens of thousands of yuan↓

In early January, a cross-border e-commerce company in Shenzhen was reported to be under audit by the Shenzhen Taxation Bureau. Due to violations such as concealing income and failing to withhold and pay personal income tax, the company was required to pay a total of more than 8.16 million yuan in taxes and fines .

In January, Xinghui Co., Ltd. of Zebao Company issued the "Tax Payment Notice Received by the Subsidiary from the U.S. Tax Department". From 2016 to 2021, its subsidiary STK was required to pay a total of US$2,378,403.18 (equivalent to RMB 16.9 million) in taxes and fines for failing to pay sales taxes in full.

In mid-January, a logistics company in Shenzhen was found to have defrauded export tax rebates and asked others to issue special value-added tax invoices for it that did not match its actual business operations. It was required to pay back 10.3271 million yuan in taxes and was fined 5.1788 million yuan. It was also suspended from processing export tax rebates for three years.

In mid-March, a logistics company in Shenzhen was found to have engaged in tax evasion, fraudulent export tax rebates, tax resistance, and the requirement to issue invoices. It was ordered to pay back 43,700 yuan in taxes and was fined 20,900 yuan.

In fact, some of the cross-border e-commerce companies that we mentioned above that evade taxes are just the tip of the iceberg in the industry. Many other cross-border e-commerce companies have encountered such tax audits. The major tax lawbreakers and defaulters disclosed by provincial tax bureaus are countless, most of which are cross-border e-commerce companies and foreign trade companies. This is even more of a warning to the majority of sellers.

The fourth phase of the Golden Tax System has been fully implemented. The key issues to be combated in 2024 are as follows:

As an important part of cross-border e-commerce, taxation has always been an issue that cannot be overcome, and the country has been tightening tax supervision through various means. Initially, the fourth phase of the Golden Tax System was only implemented on a pilot basis in various provinces and cities, but now it has been fully implemented and supervision has been upgraded.

Compared with Golden Tax Phase III, Golden Tax Phase IV strengthens the horizontal information sharing. In the past, the tax bureau relied on contracts, invoices, and payment records provided by enterprises to check accounts. Now, it can work with customs, banks, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to collect information, obtain key bank account records, track the flow of funds, and dig deep into enterprises that falsely list costs.

For the cross-border export industry in 2024 alone , the tax bureau will focus on cracking down on fraudulent export tax rebates, fraudulent tax refunds by false invoices, and fraudulent tax deception by using shell companies. For sellers, some behaviors should be strictly resisted, such as false VAT invoices, false accounting, intentionally paying wages in cash or personal cards, receiving and paying goods in cash, and looking for invoices to offset taxes.

Previously, many sellers have been fined for the Golden Tax Phase IV issue. A supply chain management company in Shenzhen set up a shell company and opened a bank account in Hong Kong, and received business payments from overseas institutions, concealing its income of up to 17.4 million yuan. It was eventually forced to pay back taxes and fines totaling 6.43 million yuan over the past seven years. The company was not only suspected of tax evasion, but also of using personal accounts to pay bonuses and remunerations, and failed to withhold personal income tax. It was forced to pay back taxes and fines totaling 1.73 million yuan.

It is undeniable that the above cases have also sounded the alarm for us. The country has been tightening tax policies and gradually increasing the punishment for tax evasion, and the e-commerce industry is one of the key directions of tax audits. As early as 2023, there were sellers who used cross-border e-commerce platforms to smuggle orders and evaded more than 20 million yuan in taxes and were sentenced to several years in prison. Sellers must not take chances and go overseas again, but strictly abide by tax compliance.

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