Lee Ha-nee, 6 billion additional fine, missed the event a day before if she was conscious of negative public opinion (SC Issue)
Feb 19, 2025
|
On the 19th, it was reported that Lee Ha-nee would not attend the photo event scheduled for the 20th.
An event official said "Actor Lee Ha-nee, who was previously scheduled to attend, was forced to be absent due to personal reasons," he added.
Lee Ha-nee was scheduled to attend the cosmetics brand photo event on the morning of the 20th as an official ambassador, but she announced her absence the day before.
In response, he speculated that it may be related to suspicions about the source of capital during the real estate purchase process, following the recent suspicion of tax evasion of 6 billion won.
Earlier on the 17th, a media outlet reported that in September last year, actors Lee Ha-nee and Lee Ha-nee's agency, Hope Project, conducted an intensive tax investigation and collected as much as 6 billion won in taxes, including income tax.
In response, Lee Ha-nee's agency Tim Hopp said in connection with Lee Ha-nee's tax investigation that `We faithfully responded to the tax investigation conducted by the Seoul Regional Tax Office as part of the non-regular integration of corporate artists.'
Lee Ha-nui has faithfully fulfilled his duty to pay taxes by complying with laws and procedures under the advice of his tax agent. The tax was paid in full as an additional tax due to differences in perspectives between tax authorities and tax agents, and had nothing to do with intentional omission of taxes.
On the 18th, it was reported that Lee Ha-nee recently purchased real estate worth 6.5 billion won under the name of the Hope Project, a single-person corporation.
Field News raised suspicions about the source of the funds, taking issue with the fact that Hope Project was a private corporation with only 10 million won in capital at the time of its establishment.
The real estate is a two-story building with a total floor area of 173.63㎡ on a 332㎡ (about 100 pyeong) land located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and the restaurant is currently operating after having the corporate address of the Hope Project from March 2018 to October 2020.
According to the real estate industry, the area near the building is currently trading at 149.8 million won per 3.3㎡. If the land area is simply calculated, it is expected to be around 15 billion won.
The media pointed out that "Lee Ha-nee, who was imposed by the National Tax Service on the highest level of additional fines ever for celebrities, neglected her duty to pay taxes and was active in increasing personal assets by investing in real estate using corporations."
In addition, Lee Ha-nee seems to have purchased a large amount of real estate without paying additional capital. Even in the certified copy of the register, there was no record of receiving a loan as collateral at the time of acquisition of real estate in 2017.
However, there were two seizure records from Yongsan-gu Office in March 2022 and November last year. This is likely to be an administrative measure related to non-payment of local taxes (property tax, acquisition tax, etc.).
Accordingly, Lee Ha-nui's agency explained, "'Due to the death of the owner after the initial contract of the property in 2017, it took three years to pay the balance and the final contract period of 2020, so the initial loan period was 2020.'" "At the time of acquisition of the real estate, a survey was conducted on the source of funds, and sufficient explanatory data such as income certificate and financial transaction details including loans were submitted, and all procedures were carried out in accordance with due process."
Meanwhile, Lee Ha-nee has been active for about 10 years until April last year after signing an exclusive contract with Human Entertainment in 2014. After ending his exclusive contract in April last year, he worked without an agency for about seven months before moving to TEAMHOPE in January this year.
narusi@sportschosun.com
