Gaming companies have denied rumors that tax rate will be hiked to the level for liquor makers in China, saying that they have not received such notification. 

Rumors are flying that Internet companies may be imposed value-added tax on services such as in-game purchases and advertising, due to high profit margins and low tax burden. The speculation has led to a collective decline in the stock prices of internet companies like Tencent.

Previously, the three major telecom operators in China—China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom—issued announcements, stating that they would uniformly implement the new value-added tax rate, which is raised to 9% from the previous 6%.