Apparent tax evasion crackdown underway in China’s seafood hotbed of Guangdong province

Several major seafood firms in southern China appear to be caught up in a crackdown on tax evasion.

The investigation is centered around some well-known names in the Chinese seafood sector in Guangdong province, with customers also helping Chinese police and tax authorities with their inquiries, according to a China-based seafood trader shipping seafood to international buyers.

The trader, who has been a reliable source of information on the Chinese market in the past, said Chinese authorities appear to be looking at false declarations and undervaluation of the value of shipments by companies seeking to save on tax bills. That could have involved fraud on invoices for exports and imports by seafood firms, according to the course.

“We were contacted by the authorities in Guangdong asking a representative from our company to travel to Guangzhou with the records of our purchases [from the company being investigated], before the staff member was allowed return to his office,” the source told SeafoodSource.

Files relating to the purchases of …

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