An MCN signed streamers as 'agents' — the tax bureau said that didn't cancel its duty

The Changsha Municipal Tax Bureau's First Inspection Bureau found that Hunan Yanke Culture Media, an MCN agency managing livestreamers, had failed to withhold individual income tax on the streaming salaries and service fees it paid its signed broadcasters between 2021 and 2022, totaling ¥2.0886 million in unpaid tax.

The case surfaced after tax authorities noticed that the gift and reward income streamers received on live platforms diverged sharply from what they had declared for personal income tax — a mismatch that let investigators trace the shortfall back to the MCN's payment structure rather than to the individual broadcasters alone.

In March 2025, the bureau fined Yanke ¥1.0443 million for the withholding failure and required it to guide and supervise its streamers in correcting their filings and paying back taxes plus late fees. The State Taxation Administration publicized the case on September 19, 2025, alongside another MCN and an individual streamer, as part of a nationwide push against agency contracts used to obscure who owed the withholding duty.