Beijing — WHEN the accountant at one of the companies I work for as a teacher asked me to evade taxes, she posed it as a challenge.

“See how many fapiao you can bring in,” she said. “You’re behind a couple thousand.”

In China, businesses have to give out invoices called fapiao to ensure that taxes are being paid. But the fapiao — the very mechanism intended to keep businesses honest — is sometimes the key to cheating on taxes.

I wasn’t working for some shadowy corporation. I recorded lessons for Chinese students who study English remotely. Though born here, I grew up in the United States and hold an American passport. My presence as a foreigner was better left off the books, the accountant said.

The plan went like this: My company would disguise my salary as a series of expenses, which would also save me from paying personal income tax. But to show proof of expenses, the accountant needed fapiao. It was my responsibility to collect the invoices.