Chinese influencer Viya fined 1.3 bln yuan for tax evasion

BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) – China’s “queen of livestreaming” has been fined 1.34 billion yuan ($210 million) for tax evasion, tax authorities said on Monday.

Internet celebrity Viya, whose real name is Huang Wei, was fined for hiding personal income and other offences in 2019 and 2020, according to the tax bureau in Hangzhou, a city in southern China.

She later apologised.

“I’m deeply sorry about my violations of the tax laws and regulations,” she said on her Weibo account. “I thoroughly accept the punishment made by the tax authorities.”

Viya, 36, is known for her ability to sell “anything” via livestreaming on the Taobao Live platform. Last year, she sold a rocket launch service for 40 million yuan ($6.27 million).

She is the latest celebrity livestreamer to get caught up in a broad crackdown that initially targeted tech monopolies but has since gone on to take aim at private education, social media platforms, and the culture of celebrity.

Before the crackdown, tax evasion, an age-old practice among China’s celebrities, had already sunk the career of several well-known figures in the entertainment industry.

Viya, however, represents a new generation of celebrities, whose meteoric rise to fame has been powered by the equally dizzying growth of China’s e-commerce sector, many aspects of which have come under regulatory scrutiny.

The State Taxation Administration issued a notice in September, announcing measures to strengthen tax administration in the entertainment sector, including livestreamers.

Two e-commerce livestreaming influencers were reported to be under investigation for personal tax evasion last month and were together fined nearly 100 million yuan ($15.69 million). The livestreaming services of the two have since been shut down.

($1 = 6.3782 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Reporting by Sophie Yu, Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Robert Birsel

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