In the Chinese entertainment industry, tax evasion is considered one of the most destructive scandals for an artist's career. Just one decision to collect tax arrears or tax evasion charges can cause A-list stars to lose their position, works to be stalled, advertising contracts to be canceled, and the road back to operation is extremely arduous.
In 2018, the tax evasion related to the "yin-yang contract" (using 2 contracts when filming to conceal income) of actress Pham Bang Bang shocked international public opinion.
After the tax authorities' investigation, she was asked to pay about 884 million CNY (about 130 million USD) of tax arrears and fines.
Although not criminally prosecuted, Pham Bang Bang was "banned from broadcasting" in the billion-people market, and her domestic entertainment career was almost wiped out.
Her works are restricted from release in mainland China. She cannot participate in domestic film and television projects, while many previously completed works are also not allowed to be released.
Before this scandal, Pham Bang Bang was one of the most famous stars in China, participating in many Hollywood movies such as "Iron Man 3" and "X-Men: Days of future past". In 2017, the actress was honored by TIME magazine in the list of "100 most influential people in the world".
Pham Bang Bang's case also led to a widespread tax inspection campaign for the Chinese entertainment industry, helping to detect and declare more than 11.747 billion RMB in taxes. Following that, the Chinese art management agency issued regulations tightening the remuneration of actors.
After many years of "hiding", Pham Bang Bang sought development opportunities abroad, the milestone was her return to the screen with the movie "Green Night" in 2023. But her works were not released in mainland China afterwards.
At the end of 2025, Pham Bang Bang won the "Best Actress" award of the Golden Horse Film Awards (Taiwan, China) thanks to the movie "Dia Mau", but she did not come to receive the award.
Pham Bang Bang's Weibo post expressing joy was also quickly deleted. These things show that the actress has not yet been able to restore her previous position and her journey back to domestic art activities is extremely difficult.
Another case often mentioned is actress Trinh Sang. She was identified by tax authorities as hiding income and evading taxes in the period 2019-2020, also related to the use of "yin-yang contracts". Finally, she was retroactively charged and fined about 299 million CNY (about 44 million USD) in 2021.
The tax evasion combined with the previous surrogacy scandal caused Trinh Sang to be completely "banned from broadcasting". Films with her participation were removed on platforms, and social media accounts were locked. Trinh Sang is no longer allowed to operate in the Chinese entertainment industry due to a series of serious scandals about law and ethics.
In South Korea, the number of artists concluded to be evading taxes is not as large as in China. Most cases are tax arrears after inspection due to controversies surrounding the use of one-person companies to manage income, income classification and tax rates.
However, tax scandals also have a significant impact on the image and reputation of artists.
One of the "beauty treasures" of Korean cinema, Song Hye Kyo, had to bow her head and apologize after paying about 3.8 billion won (about 2.6 million USD) of tax arrears and additional amounts as requested by the Korean tax authorities.
What is noteworthy is that Song Hye Kyo was awarded the title "Exemplary Taxpayer" in 2009. After the incident was announced in 2014, Korean media questioned this paradox, because the time she was determined to have declared less tax (2009-2011) coincided with the period of enjoying some incentives for exemplary taxpayers. This also caused the actress to be criticized and ridiculed for many years afterwards.
Most recently, the case of singer and actor Cha Eun Woo, he was retroactively taxed 13 billion won (about 9 million USD) in April this year. After the inspection process, the tax authorities said that Cha Eun Woo used a "shell company" established by his mother to apply corporate tax lower than 20% compared to personal income tax of up to 45%.
Before getting involved in the tax scandal, Cha Eun Woo was known as a "facial genius", possessing a large fan base. But because of this scandal, he was ridiculed as a "tax evasion genius" because he was a Korean artist who was retroactively taxed with the highest amount in history.
