Individual Corruption

According to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2010, less than one out of ten surveyed households who had contact with the tax revenue services report to have paid a bribe in the previous year.

Business Corruption

According to Global Integrity 2009, tax laws are not always enforced uniformly or without discrimination. This is especially true in rural areas, where some well-connected small businessmen are able to evade taxes.

Wang Fusheng, the founder of one of the largest private investment groups in China, was arrested for corruption, bribery and evading approximately USD 30 million in taxes. According to a 2010 news article by Global Times, the prosecutors accused Wang of paying CNY 500,000 in bribes to two tax officials in return for the approval of the company’s falsified accounts.  The same source also reports that Wang had in 2004, paid CNY 1 million in bribes to the former deputy director of Beijing Local Taxation Bureau (in Chinese) to avoid the overdue fines.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2012:
- A medium-sized company makes an average of 7 payments and spends 398 hours managing the administrative burden of paying taxes at a total tax rate of 63.5% of profits.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 7.8% of households who had contact with tax revenue services throughout 2009 report to have paid a bribe.