Zheng Shuang Fined S$62mil For Tax Evasion, 7 Months After Surrogacy Scandal

It has not been a good year at all for 30-year-old Chinese actress Zheng Shuang. Just months after her career-ending surrogacy scandal, she has been fined 299mil yuan (S$62mil) for evading taxes with the use of double contracts, or yin-yang contracts.

In 2018, Fan Bingbing was fined S$184mil and banned from appearing on TV for the same crime.

Zheng Shuang's tax evasion probe started after her ex-boyfriend, producer Zhang Heng, reported her to authorities in April.

Investigations have shown that she was paid 156mil yuan (S$32.5mil) for acting in 2019 series A Chinese Ghost Story, of which she only declared 48mil yuan (S$10mil).

It wasn't the only instance in which she made use of yin-yang contracts. According to reports, Zheng Shuang was also found to have under-declared 191mil yuan (S$39.81mil) in income from 2019 to 2020. As a result, the actress managed to evade 45.27mil yuan (S$9.4mil) in income taxes, along with 26.52mil yuan (S$5.5mil) in other taxes.

The Shanghai Taxation Bureau has confirmed Zheng Shuang's S$62mil fine, adding that they have a “zero-tolerance” policy against stars who “lack ethics”.

After the reports were published, Zheng Shuang’s dramas have been removed from streaming sites. Her personal Weibo account, her work studio’s account, and her Weibo super topic (the platform's version of a subreddit) have been permanently banned.

It's been reported that Zheng Shuang will make a public apology on August 29, though insiders are saying that it wouldn't do anything to help her badly-damaged reputation and that her days in showbiz are definitely over.

Photos: PBE Media