Detailed explanation of the new regulations on live broadcasting: withholding and payment will not significantly increase platform expenses, and there is no limit on tipping

The boots finally landed, and the two-year-long delay in the specification of webcasting was once again released in the form of an official document.

Recently, the State Internet Information Office, the State Administration of Taxation, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the Opinions on Further Regulating the Profit-making Behavior of Online Live Broadcasting and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which reward live broadcasting from five aspects, including "better implementing the main responsibility of management on online live broadcasting platforms"; "standardizing online live broadcast marketing behavior and maintaining market order"; "standardizing tax management and promoting tax compliance"; "deepening collaborative governance and promoting the improvement of regulatory synergy". Live streaming with goods to standardize.

At the very least, this Opinion does not negate the live broadcasting industry. And the tax has been checked last year, this bearish, the market should have been digested. A practitioner who has been working on the live broadcast platform for more than five years told Shell Financial Reporter. He also said that paying taxes is the obligation of every citizen, and the live broadcasting platform has been urging anchors to fulfill their relevant responsibilities.

Internet analyst Tang Xin believes that the Opinions do not exceed the industry's expectations. It has not changed the business logic of the live broadcasting industry. Although it may affect the interests of some merchants and anchors in the short term, it is beneficial to the development of the live broadcasting industry in the long run.

Other experts interviewed said that the highlight of the "Notice" is also to standardize the tax management part, help anchors establish a healthy and compliant marketing system, at the same time, the relevant provisions target the false publicity behavior of live broadcasting platforms, indicating that the regulatory high-pressure posture, the online live broadcasting industry should strictly abide by the marketing bottom line.

In fact, since 2016, with the gradual increase in the social influence of short videos and live broadcasts, the relevant departments of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Ministry of Public Security have also become more and more strict in their supervision. Supervision began to reach a small climax in June 2020, eight departments of the state jointly issued the "Work Plan for Carrying Out Special Rectification and Standardized Management of the Online Live Broadcasting Industry", and relevant departments began a series of research and governance work on the online live broadcasting industry; in November 2020, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Live Broadcasting and E-commerce Live Broadcasting", requiring online live broadcasting platforms to implement real-name management for network anchors and "tipping" users; in the same month, the Cyberspace Administration of China also issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Live Broadcasting and E-commerce Live Broadcasting", requiring online live broadcasting platforms to implement real-name management for network anchors and "tipping" users; in the same month, the Cyberspace Administration of China also issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Live Broadcasting and E-commerce Live Broadcasting"; in the same month, the Cyberspace Administration of China also issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Live Broadcasting and E-commerce Live Broadcasting", requiring online live broadcasting platforms to implement real-name management for network anchors and "tipping" users; in the same month, the Cyberspace Administration of China also issued the "Notice In February 2021, seven departments, including the Cyberspace Administration of China and the National Office for Combating Pornography and Fighting Illegal Activities, jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Standardized Management of Online Live Broadcasting, urging platforms to implement hierarchical and categorical management of anchor accounts, prevent irrational and passionate rewards, and curb commercial marketing chaos; in the second half of 2021, the tax department has successively exposed zhu Chenhui (Sydney), Lin Shanshan, Huang Wei (Wei Ya) and other network anchors suspected of tax evasion.

The tax-related part of the "Opinions" is a highlight and does not affect the competition pattern of Douyin, Kuaishou and Taobao

Compared with the previous regulatory management norms of the live broadcasting industry, the tax-related part of the "Opinions" is a highlight and is also the first time it has been highlighted. According to the "Opinions", online live broadcasting platforms and online live broadcast service institutions shall clearly distinguish and define the various sources and nature of income of online live broadcast publishers, and perform individual income tax withholding and payment obligations in accordance with law, and must not transfer or evade personal income tax withholding and payment obligations by establishing "associations" of online live broadcast publishers, using third-party enterprises or signing exemption agreements with online live broadcast publishers that do not perform their individual income tax withholding and payment obligations; they must not plan or help online live broadcast publishers implement tax evasion.

An analyst from the secondary market investment research team told Shell Finance that the withholding and payment business should not significantly increase platform expenses. In his view, the withholding and payment business should be mainly for live rewards rather than live streaming with goods, the cash flow of live broadcast tips is collected by the platform party and then distributed to the guild or individual anchor, and the cash flow of live streaming with goods should be the first to the merchant and there is a return phenomenon, so it is unlikely to achieve withholding and payment. For some associations or individuals with irregular tax payments, their income may be reduced accordingly, but the impact on the platform will be relatively small.

The above-mentioned Internet analyst, Tang Xin, also believes that the impact of withholding and payment on the operating costs of the platform is not large, mainly affecting the income of anchors, especially well-known anchors, for the platform, it can be said that the profit is exhausted.

"The "Opinions" on the live streaming with goods, for consumers to benefit the most, consumption can be better guaranteed; for businesses, more able to promote the survival of the fittest, high-quality standard businesses will have benefits; anchors and guilds need to standardize tax payments, interests will have a certain impact; for the platform, it is good to ensure long-term development." Tang Xin explained, "The Opinions will not have a substantial impact on the competitive landscape of Douyin, Kuaishou and Taobao in live streaming, because the source of user traffic has not changed. ”

Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International United Business School, said that the Notice emphasizes the common tax avoidance problems in the field of online live broadcasting, once again emphasizes standardized management and tax compliance, indicating that relevant problems still exist, and some live broadcast anchors need to take precautions, take the initiative to pay taxes, and operate in good faith.

The practitioners of the live broadcasting industry interviewed believe that the "Opinions" are more of a top-level design, and further specifications and rules are needed for specific implementation.

"For example, what nature of live broadcast income needs to be forced to withhold and pay individual tax? For example, for live broadcast rewards, the anchor's equipment investment, personnel investment and other upfront expenses, how to deduct accordingly when withholding and payment, these need to be further explained. The above-mentioned senior practitioners in the live broadcast industry told Shell Finance.

There are also live broadcast guild operators pointed out that not every guild can take the labor contract, because most of the main body of the cultural media company does not carry out the labor dispatch business project, but many anchors are part-time, can only take the labor contract, in the distribution of income or need to take a third-party labor contract or through the flexible employment platform to solve, "we are still waiting for further judicial interpretations, the detailed rules must be slowly improved."

The "Opinions" pointed out that in recent years, online live broadcasting has played an important role in promoting flexible employment and serving the development of the economy. At the same time, the profit-making behavior of online live broadcasting also has problems such as the management responsibility of the online live broadcasting platform is not in place, the commercial marketing behavior is not standardized, and the tax payment is evaded, which restricts the healthy development of the industry and undermines social fairness and justice.

The Opinions fully absorb the essence of the previous provisions, but there is no restriction on tipping

With the special effects of airplanes, rockets, and yachts, the appearance of the "big brother of the list" can always cause agitation in the live broadcast room and the continuous hello of the anchor. Previously, there were media reports that the relevant departments may draft further regulations to limit the daily rewards of network anchors' fan tips to the upper limit of 10,000 yuan, and consider implementing stricter content censorship on online live broadcasts.

However, in fact, these restricted tipping clauses did not appear in the "Opinions", including the previously controversial "tip user real-name system" and "face recognition confirmation recharge", etc., which did not appear in this version of the "Opinions", which is equivalent to no impact on the user's recharge experience.

"The regulatory authorities have not given a clear provision on the tip limit. Before each platform collected its own data, such as the live broadcast of a certain anchor every day and each time period, what was the amount of tip received? What kind of performance? How much do the top few on the list tip? After collecting this information, the platform meets together to discuss and jointly formulate a draft. After the draft is drafted, each platform will also do tests, such as when the limit is how much, it will affect the income of the platform, and the regulatory authorities are not killed by a shot. A management who is engaged in supervision and audit work on the live broadcast platform told Shell Finance.

Since June 2020, many large live broadcasting platforms have successively received surveys from ministries and commissions such as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the main content of which is to limit high tipping and control impulse tipping. Some live broadcast platforms that did not want to be named told Shell Financial Reporter that previously each live broadcast platform has successively conducted AB TEST (A / B test) on products to assess how much should be set in a single-day tip limit, a single account tip limit, etc., in order to achieve the norms at the same time, to ensure user experience and platform operation.

In the view of the above-mentioned senior practitioners in the live broadcast industry, the regulatory authorities are more hoping that the live broadcast platform will bring more positive energy content, let the high-quality content be recommended, and let the inferior content be shuffled, rather than restricting the development of the platform, so it will listen to the opinions of each platform.

Many experts interviewed believe that another highlight of the Opinions is that they fully absorb the opinions of industry associations. Industry associations have previously begun to formulate some industry norms and rules, in 2020, the China Performance Industry Association has formulated the anchor account classification, classification management norms and live broadcast industry tipping behavior related management rules, the China Federation of Commerce has also introduced live streaming with goods industry standards and norms, etc., which are reflected in the "Opinions". For example, the "Opinions" require strengthening the registration management of online live broadcast accounts, hierarchical and classified management, and cooperating with law enforcement activities, etc., and the "Opinions" also regulate from the aspects of actively creating a fair competitive environment for online live broadcasting and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of merchants and consumers.

Beijing News shell financial reporter Bai Jinlei Editor Xu Chao Proofreader Zhao Lin