The 'Love O2O' actress must pay a massive fine to avoid criminal charges over alleged tax evasion after it's reported she earned a huge sum of money from her latest project.
- August 28, 2021
AceShowbiz - Chinese actress Zheng Shuang has been hit with a massive fine over missed tax payments.
The 30-year-old actress has been told she must pay 299 million yuan ($46.1 million) for failing to declare 191 million yuan ($29.5 million) in her salary from 2019 to 2020, according to the South China Morning Post.
According to China's State Tax Administration officials, Zheng Shuang's tax evasion case involves "multiple regions, multiple companies and multiple performing arts projects across the country," with a spokesman telling the publication, "The case is complicated."
The actress is unlikely to face criminal charges as long as she pays her fine.
The news comes after Zheng Shuang was involved in a separate scandal earlier this year, when she was accused by former partner, producer Zhang Heng, of abandoning two children born in America to surrogate mothers.
The tax fraud allegation emerged after Zhang Heng posted screenshots of a text conversation he had with Zheng and her parents online, in which they allegedly discussed her big pay day.
According to reports, the "Love O2O" star earned $24.6 million (£17.7 million) for just 77 days of filming on the upcoming TV series "A Chinese Ghost Story", meaning she earned $320,000 (£230,000) a day.
Her purported earnings also mean she earned more than double the $10 million (£7.2 million) fee Gal Gadot banked for reprising her superhero role in "Wonder Woman 1984" and more than five times the $4.5 million (£3.2 million) figure Joaquin Phoenix took home for his Oscar-winning performance in "Joker".
