On July 1, 2026, a Tianjin-based livestreamer surnamed Fu received a text message from the tax authority requiring her to file amended tax returns for her labor income from 2024 to 2025. Within a week, she paid 161,900 yuan in back personal income tax plus late payment penalties. That same month, a beauty influencer in Xi’an paid 1.2461 million yuan in back taxes.

Starting August 1, 2026, all 31 provinces across the country will simultaneously launch tax audits targeting live-streaming e-commerce. With platform-reported data now integrated into the tax system, the era of ”not paying taxes on online income” has officially come to an end.

Many livestreamers have been investigated, and the issue isn’t whether they pay taxes, but rather ”under what classification they pay them.” Today, I’ll clearly explain the six categories of livestreaming income.

01

How Are the Six Categories of Income Classified?

Salary for Category 1 Contracted Streamers: Streamers who sign employment contracts with MCNs are taxed on their total income at progressive rates ranging from 3% to 45%. The MCN withholds the tax on their behalf, and annual income exceeding 120,000 requires an annual tax settlement.

Commission for Category II Independent Streamers: Streamers broadcasting as individuals; slot fees and commissions are subject to withholding tax at rates ranging from 20.1% to 40.1% as compensation for services rendered, and are included in comprehensive income during the annual tax settlement.

Category 3: Appearance Fees: These are fixed appearance fees classified as compensation for services, and the payer is responsible for withholding taxes on them. Category 4: Tips: These are typically classified as incidental income (20%) or compensation for services, and the platform withholds taxes on them.

Category 5: Commission from E-commerce Sales: For businesses operating as sole proprietorships or corporations, taxation is based on 5% to 35% of business income, either through audited accounting or a fixed-rate assessment. Category 6: Advertising Endorsements: Classified as remuneration for services, with the advertiser responsible for withholding taxes.

02

Strict Big Data Regulations Are Here

The biggest difference between this audit and previous ones is that the platform’s data is now integrated with the tax system. The platform reports three types of core data: streamer identities, revenue-sharing transactions, and fund flows.

Once data is integrated, the tax system will have three capabilities: automatic comparison (automatic alerts when discrepancies between reported income and platform transaction records exceed 10%), reverse lookup of bank transaction records, and cross-platform linkage (automatic aggregation of income from multiple platforms for the same individual).

On July 17, 2026, the Sanming Tax Bureau in Fujian served the first ”Platform Data Direct Transmission to Tax Authorities” notice requiring filing within a specified time limit to a streamer who could not be contacted. Failure to comply by the deadline will result in the tax amount being assessed in accordance with the law, the imposition of late payment penalties, and fines ranging from 0.5 to 5 times the tax amount; in serious cases, the matter will be referred to public security authorities.

03

Three Types of "Minefields" That Are Guaranteed to Be Investigated

Risk Area 1: Receiving Payments Through Personal Accounts: Receiving stall rental fees and commissions through personal accounts to conceal income. If discovered through a comparison of bank transaction records, this may result in back taxes and fines; in severe cases, it constitutes the crime of tax evasion.

Pitfall 2: Inflating Costs: Fabricating revenue-sharing ratios, falsely reporting operating expenses, inflating costs for fake orders, and using fake invoices to offset expenses—all of which are immediately identified during an audit.

Pitfall 3: Tax Havens—Setting up sole proprietorships without actual business operations to receive local tax rebates, and using shell studios to qualify for assessed taxation. New policies in 2026 have clearly tightened regulations; some regions have already suspended such applications, and the fixed profit margin has been adjusted from 10% to 15% to 20%.

04

Voluntary self-reporting is the window period

Six Steps for Live Streamers to Conduct Self-Audits: Review income, confirm the nature of income, manage supporting documents, file tax returns in compliance with regulations, seek professional support, and pay any back taxes identified during the self-audit. If historical issues are discovered, proactively file amended returns to seek lenient treatment.

Four areas for MCN agencies to self-inspect: whether streamers’ tax withholding and remittance are in compliance; whether there are valid invoices for transactions with brands; whether their operational income is reported accurately; and whether they have misclassified income to inflate expenses.

In 2026, tax authorities will continue to step up oversight of live-streaming e-commerce. Online live-streaming is by no means a tax haven; the only sustainable solution is to fully include platform revenue in annual tax settlements and ensure accurate reporting.

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