|
Home>News Center>Life | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
A Mei in tax scandal: Report
Taiwan pop queen A Mei was recently hit with a bill from Taiwan authorities, asking the singer to pay the US$970,000 she owes for taxes.
The news has triggered heated speculation among Taiwan entertainers and the public alike. But a Tuesday report from the Southern Metropolitan News clarified that the tax evasion news was ungrounded after checking with Taiwan tax authorities. According to the report, an official surnamed Li with the authorities said A Mei hadn't evaded taxes but she had a misunderstanding as to whether she should pay taxes on the base of "salaries" or "personal earnings." Such a misunderstanding led to a shortage of "a certain amount of taxes" but her act was not meant to "evade taxes," the official was quoted as saying. A Mei, who is now studying in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States, issued a statement via her lawyer concerning the tax evasion news. The statement said A Mei had always reported her earnings to related authorities, but there was ambiguity as to which part of the earnings was the base for taxes and how much of the performance payments was taxable. The statement also urged the public to stop ungrounded speculations. If A Mei really had to pay a shortage of taxes of US$970,000, the amount would be the largest among Taiwan performers who had a history of evading or not paying all their taxes. The news sparked strong responses among Taiwan performers including Jacky Ng and Jay Chow. In A Mei's defense, Ng's agent Cao Zijie said the public and the tax authorities too easily assumed performers were among the highest paid groups. He said the size of performance payments people heard on TV was only promotional information and often much higher than the amount paid to the performers. "A Mei was unlucky to be singled out," Cao said. Every year Taiwan's tax authorities specifically inspect people in the entertainment business and release an incomplete, random list of evaders. This year Wu Bai, Jay Chou, Richie Jen and Jolin Tsai were also hit with a bill from the tax authorities. "We didn't mean to target A Mei," a tax authority spokeswoman surnamed Gao
told the Southern Metropolitan News reporter.
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
