Hong Kong-invested companies, including the popular Shenzhen Lowu Hotel and Shenzhen Kaiyue Hotel near the Lowu border, have been found owing a large amount of taxes and may be subject to tough sanctions if they fail to comply.
The overseas enterprise department of the Shenzhen Tax Bureau released a list of 17 foreign-invested enterprises that have been found with serious tax evasions.
More than 20 foreign enterprises were summoned to a meeting at the department on Tuesday to discuss their tax payment plans, the Shenzhen Legal Daily reported.
Most of these companies were said to have owed more than 100,000 yuan (about HK$93,700) of taxes and had allegedly refused to pay them, the report said.
More than 40 overseas-invested companies had evaded more than 100 million yuan of taxes to the Shenzhen government, the department was quoted as saying.
The amount accounted for 25 per cent of the taxes owed in Shenzhen.
Tough action was planned for the offenders, including banning them from leaving the country, freezing their personal assets and bank accounts and possibly auctioning their personal property.