Shunmou Office Information Service Co., Ltd. as a listed company to carry out flexible labor platform business, June 5, 2023, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a notice that because of its 2022 annual net profit of -116,276,500 yuan, the financial accounting report was issued a qualified audit report, etc., in line with the circumstances of the delisting, began to delisting delisting. The reason for this is that, under the name of Shun Mou Office to carry out flexible labor business of six wholly-owned grandson companies there are tax-related issues, and ultimately formed a chain reaction, the tax issue has become the road ahead of the "stumbling block". In contrast, Tianjin "a certain account" in 2022 to achieve nearly 100 billion revenue, the development momentum is strong. It can be said that a few people are happy and a few people are sad. In view of this, this article will start from the point of view of the tax problems of Shun a certain office, analyze the business model of the flexible labor platform tax risk, reveal the common tax risk points, and put forward tax compliance suggestions for the sustainable development of the flexible labor platform in the future for the reader's reference.

Ⅰ. Why did Shunmou Office withdraw from the market? There are hidden risks in flexible labor business!

(Ⅰ) Shunmou Office outbreak of tax risks, six spiritual labor platforms under the name of the audited

Shunmou Office is a listed company on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and its main business is to solve the labor demand by personnel outsourcing and other modes, and to provide many services such as agent registration of enterprises and financial and tax consulting, etc. On June 21, 2022, Shunmou Office released the "Progress Announcement on the Tax-Related Matters of Grandson Companies," which disclosed that in October 2021, six subsidiaries of a subsidiary of Shunmou Office, a financial and tax technology limited company, which are wholly-owned grandson companies of Shunmou Office, were carrying out tax risk in the course of carrying out the tax-related matters. 's wholly-owned grandchildren) failed to obtain legal pre-tax deduction vouchers for enterprise income tax from flexible workers in accordance with the law in the course of their flexible labor business, and demanded to make up and exchange invoices or else their enterprise income tax would be adjusted.

Due to the large number of people carrying out flexible labor business on the platform and the predominance of natural persons, it was difficult for the platform to collect sufficient invoices, which ultimately made Shun Mou Office suffer serious losses and delisted. Currently, the shares of "Shun Mou Office" have entered the delisting and reorganization period.
In June 2023, the First Inspection Bureau of Zhoushan City Taxation Bureau issued a Notice of Tax Matters to six companies under Shun Mou Office, requesting the relevant personnel of the units to come to the Taxation Bureau to cooperate in the investigation. The Inspection Bureau served the instrument by way of a public notice stating that the six companies had fled and lost their connections.

(Ⅱ) Causes of the outbreak of tax risks in Shunmou Office

First, the enterprise executives have insufficient knowledge of tax compliance. Flexible labor platform is, after all, a brand-new business form, traditional enterprises are bound to face some difficulties in carrying out related business. Shunmou Office, in the process of carrying out related business, faced with a large number of natural persons providing labor services, could not obtain a compliant invoice to deduct the enterprise income tax, and should be sensitive to the relevant tax-related risks.

Second, failure to obtain legitimate deduction vouchers. The invoice is an important cost deduction document, which is an important basis for cost deduction of the six platforms. According to the existing model of "full collection and full invoicing", in order to survive, flexible labor platforms must be able to deduct the full amount of labor remuneration paid to flexible laborers. However, freelancers or third-party agencies that actually provide labor services are unable to provide invoices, or provide invoices that are not in compliance, which is the root cause of the outbreak of enterprise income tax risk.

Third, the information on business authenticity and expenditure authenticity is not complete. According to the relevant provisions of the Measures for the Administration of Vouchers for Pre-tax Deduction of Enterprise Income Tax, enterprises can provide information to prove the authenticity of expenditures in cases where they are unable to make up or exchange invoices. However, if the information provided by the enterprise is not complete, it cannot be recognized by the tax authorities.

(Ⅲ) Summary: Flexible labor platforms should take warning and pay attention to tax compliance

Tax compliance is important for the development of flexible labor platforms. The six enterprises under Shunmou Office were audited by the tax authorities due to tax issues, and may subsequently be administratively penalized by the tax authorities or criminally sanctioned by the judicial authorities for their tax non-compliance. Flexible labor platform, if you want to develop, to survive in the economic environment, is bound to pay attention to and strengthen the corporate tax compliance.

Ⅱ.  six common business risks of flexible labor platforms

(Ⅰ) Failure to audit the authenticity of labor services and being utilized for false invoicing

As a bridge connecting labor-using enterprises and flexible laborers, the flexible labor platform matches the needs of both labor-using enterprises and laborers and solves the problem of mismatch between supply and demand in the labor process, but it is used by some unscrupulous elements. In order to reduce the cost of labor, some enterprises instigate their employees to register on the flexible labor platform, use the policy of "middleman" on the flexible labor platform, release false labor information, and cheat the platform to issue false invoices, but in fact, there is no real labor service at all. Some enterprises use this method to reduce costs or to extract funds for commercial bribery. Some flexible platforms do not audit the authenticity of labor services, and there is a risk of false VAT invoices being used by both parties.

(Ⅱ) The labor service has been completed and the enterprises have backdated the invoice on the platform, which triggers the risk of false invoicing

Due to the lack of tax compliance awareness, some labor-using enterprises failed to make reasonable and legal planning and layout before carrying out transactions, which triggered tax risks. For example, a labor-using enterprise found in the course of operation that a certain business required professional training for its employees, but the enterprise lacked internal professionals, so it hired a professional to conduct business training for its employees and answer questions. Upon completion of the service, the enterprise paid the individual for his labor, but was unable to obtain a VAT invoice. In order to reduce its tax burden, the enterprise looked for a flexible labor platform to issue invoices for it, and the platform agreed to help the enterprise to issue invoices in order to earn service fees, so that the professional and the enterprise could "make up" a set of formalities on the platform to obtain invoices. However, according to the provisions of the Provisional Regulations on Value-added Tax, such behavior violates the provisions on the time of occurrence of tax obligations, and at the same time, since the platform is not involved in the development of the business, it is actually a false "invoicing on behalf of invoicing" behavior, which triggers the risk of false invoicing.

(Ⅲ) the use of investment return policy, the initiative of foreign false invoicing

In order to attract enterprises to local development and revitalize the local economy, some local governments often give enterprises some tax concessions, or in order to increase the support and encouragement for flexible labor platforms, sign investment promotion agreements with them and give them corresponding tax rebates, such as a certain percentage of the sales tax amount, which leads to the fact that some flexible labor platforms, in order to obtain the government's tax rebates, take the initiative to falsely issue VAT invoices to the outside world to obtain undue benefits. In order to obtain tax rebates from the government, some flexible labor platforms take the initiative to falsely issue VAT invoices to the outside world and obtain improper benefits. In practice, some flexible labor platforms suspected of false invoicing release false tax-related information and advertisements on the Internet or contact enterprises directly, claiming that they have the means to develop invoices to reduce enterprise costs. After listening to and believing in them, the enterprises, led by the platforms, obtain the falsely issued VAT invoices by making false labor contracts and capital return.

(Ⅳ) The platform failed to accurately identify the nature of services and did not withhold personal tax on behalf of the enterprises

According to the Measures for the Administration of Entrusted Taxation (Announcement No. 24 of 2013 by the State Administration of Taxation), the tax authorities may entrust relevant units and personnel to collect taxes on behalf of the tax authorities. This article provides a legal basis for flexible labor platforms to pay taxes on behalf of flexible workers. However, some flexible labor platforms do not have sound financial and tax norms, are not clear about how to collect tax returns and other basic issues, and are unable to identify the nature of the services provided by the employees for the enterprise, especially according to the tax items of "income from production and operation" or "income from remuneration for labor services" as the "personal income tax". There are still uncertainties in practice regarding the collection and payment of individual income tax on behalf of individuals. For example, in practice, some tax authorities believe that the transportation services carried out by individual drivers and the teaching services provided by teachers can only be "income from labor services", and it is wrong to apply "income from production and business" to collect personal income tax on behalf of individuals.

(Ⅴ) The platform was unable to obtain cost deduction vouchers and used white slips for accounting purposes

While promoting employment, flexible labor platforms have also created some tax-related problems. For example, free workers provide labor services for labor-using enterprises through the platform, and the platform issues invoices for the enterprises in the name of the dependent workers, and when the platform pays the service fees to the free workers, due to the complexity of the invoicing process of the natural person, it is impossible to obtain the invoices and cost deduction certificates, which leads to the platform bearing a heavy tax burden of the natural person, and in order to deduce the costs, the platform tends to use the homemade payment certificates directly, bank flows and contracts into the accounts, violating the Measures for the Administration of Pre-tax Deduction Vouchers for Enterprise Income Tax, resulting in increased tax risks for the platform.

(Ⅵ) Abuse of the approved levy policy for self-employed persons to help evade personal tax

Some flexible labor platforms are set up in parks with the approved collection policy for self-employed persons, which are used to help flexibly employed persons register as self-employed persons and enjoy personal tax concessions, and to attract flexibly employed persons to move into the platforms. However, some platforms make use of this policy to "split income" for high-income executives, anchors, teachers, etc., registering multiple self-employed households and enjoying the approved tax concessions to help them evade taxes. 

Ⅲ. Strategies to deal with the tax risks of spiritual work platforms and realize the sustainable development of spiritual work platforms

(Ⅰ) Building a Risk Control System and Strengthening Business Authenticity Audit

It has been reported that by opening up the data interface with a municipal government department and introducing data on major tax violations and administrative penalties, a flexible labor platform has been able to realize the early warning of abnormal information and improve the ability to audit the authenticity of customer information and business. For flexible labor platforms, the authenticity of business is the cornerstone of their tax compliance. Lingong Platform connects labor-using enterprises and freelancers, and has a basic formal audit obligation on the authenticity of the business of both parties. If the platform knows that the labor-using enterprises and freelancers fabricate a series of false materials in order to obtain improper tax benefits and let it go, and still summarizes the establishment of the labor relationship between the two, there is a tax risk of violation of laws and regulations. Therefore, the platform should build a risk control system, analyze the compliance situation of the customers, establish a risk early warning system, and strengthen the audit on the authenticity of the business between the labor-using enterprises and the laborers, so as to ensure the The platform should strengthen the audit of the authenticity of the business between the employing enterprises and the laborers, ensure the authenticity of the identity of the freelancers and the basic audit of the non-employing enterprises, and ensure that the whole process of the business audit will leave traces, which can be used as the evidence to isolate the risk when the tax authorities question the platform to help the two parties to evade the tax with false invoices.

(Ⅱ) Constructing a complete "chain of evidence" of real business and isolating illegal risks

Building a "chain of evidence" of real business is an important measure to ensure platform compliance and prevent tax risks. In order to sustain its operation, a flexible labor platform needs to establish a sound internal control system to help it ensure the compliance and authenticity of its own business activities and effectively isolate illegal risks. At the same time, it establishes a sound record and file management system, keeps complete and accurate records, and properly preserves relevant evidence. In this way, a complete "chain of evidence" of the real business can be constructed to provide the necessary evidence of compliance and isolate the risk of violation of law.

(Ⅲ) Strive for the qualification of commissioned levy, levy taxes and issue invoices in accordance with the law

The commissioning qualification is a prerequisite for the spiritual labor platform to collect taxes and issue invoices in accordance with the law. However, due to the disputes between the income from labor remuneration and business income of some services, although some platforms have obtained the qualification of commissioned collection, they have to avoid the risk of wrong tax withholding. If the spiritual work platform meets controversial issues, it should communicate with the tax and other regulatory authorities in a timely manner to achieve business and tax compliance, in order to attract more flexible workers, and then contribute to the promotion of the national economy and realize a win-win situation for all parties.

Tax laws and regulations are different from other laws and norms, and are characterized by rapid updating and iteration. In addition, the platform economy is a new thing, and many systems are not perfect, so the flexible employment platform should regularly carry out training and education on collecting taxes and invoicing in accordance with the law, improve the employees' awareness of laws and regulations, and strengthen the cultivation of compliance awareness, so as to reduce the probability of illegal risks.

(Ⅳ) Constructing a tax compliance organization system for the flexible labor platform and exploring the revenue model of the Spiritual Worker Platform

In order to achieve sustainable development, it is fundamental to build a tax compliance organization system. Flexible labor platforms can establish a tax compliance department according to their own situation or set up a tax compliance specialist under the legal department to establish a tax compliance organization of flexible labor platforms, which not only can correctly apply the labor legal relations and tax policies under the new industry, but also can arrive at the customer's company when the customer faces a tax audit. In this way, it can not only correctly apply the labor law relations and tax policies in the new business, but also arrive at the client's company when the client faces a tax audit, assist the client to deal with the tax audit, improve its own service ability, enhance its core competitiveness, and promote business revenue generation. In addition, the majority of Lingong platforms should also urge flexible workers to set up companies or studios when their annual cash withdrawals reach a certain percentage, so that they can fulfill their tax obligations and achieve tax compliance.