Chinese ex-waiter turned top food influencer Bai Bing fined US$2.6 million for tax evasion

A top online influencer in China who was fined 18.91 million yuan (US$2.6 million) for evading nine million yuan in taxes has attracted significant attention on social media.The case of Bai Bing, a food influencer with more than 40 million followers, was revealed by China’s State Tax Administration (STA) in late April, according to the media outlet CCTV.The authorities said that between 2021 and 2024, Bai underpaid a total of 9.11 million yuan (US$1.3 million) of personal income tax, value-added tax and real estate tax in various ways.Popular online food influencer Bai Bing pictured at his home, above. Photo: CCTVIn October last year, the STA made the decision to fine Bai 18.91 million yuan. This included his defaulted taxes and a late payment penalty. Bai has paid off that amount of money so far, said the authority.The 32-year-old is one of China’s most influential food influencers.On one social media platform alone he has over 40 million fans and received 610 million likes in total.Each of his videos is liked by at least a million internet users, with one single clip even receiving 6.5 million likes.Bai comes from a struggling family in northeastern Jilin province. He dropped out of school at the age of 14 before taking up various odd jobs.Bai, who has more than 40 million online fans, tastes some food, above. Photo: CCTVHe once worked as a waiter and a barber’s apprentice. For some time, he was interested in motorcycles and made some short videos about them.In 2018, he began to release videos of himself visiting restaurants and tasting their dishes. He was thereby dubbed internet users’ “mouth substitute”.Bai soon gained popularity on social media thanks to his humorous and down-to-earth style. He is also well known as “Douyin Lee Minho” because of his resemblance to a South Korean of the same name.Bai’s income is mainly derived from s.Tax investigators hold a seminar, above, and show how Bai was able to evade paying duties. Photo: CCTVThe CCTV report said he charges 660,000 yuan (US$96,000) for an advert lasting less than 20 seconds and 1.32 million yuan (US$193,000) for longer ones.Further ReadingThe STA told the media Bai caught their attention because he filed a “very low income” in the personal tax declaration system while often showing off his luxurious lifestyle online.The authority’s investigation showed that Bai controls more than 10 companies.One of them, which is registered in Chongqing, southwestern China, declared “a big amount” of business income over a long period but does not have any employees.Bai makes money as an individual, thus his income should be regarded as “personal service income”.But he used the Chongqing firm as a “shell company” to transform his personal income into that of a business nature.He falsely declared the company’s costs and took advantage of the attendant tax preferences allowing him to pay less tax.Bai being interviewed by the media, above. He has admitted to making a “mistake” over his tax affairs. Photo: CCTVBai was alleged to have listed the extravagant items he bought for himself and his family as operating costs of his companies.“His personal consumption is not related to the business operations. So they should not be used for pre-tax deduction,” an official from the STA was quoted as saying.“I recognise my mistake and am willing to accept the punishment,” Bai told the media. “I realise that as a public figure, I should pay taxes according to law and set a good example for society.”Tax fraud scandals involving celebrities often make headlines in China.The superstar Fan Bingbing was fined 883 million yuan (US$130 million) for tax evasion in 2018. She has since disappeared from the public spotlight.Three years later, a top live-streamer, known as Viya, was fined 1.34 billion (US$196 million) yuan for the same crime.