Lee Ha-nee is suspected of buying 6.5 billion buildings this time..Checking the agency
Feb 18, 2025
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An official from Lee Ha-nee's agency Timhoff declined to say on the 18th that `We are checking the details of the facts' related to Lee Ha-nee's real estate purchase.
Earlier in the day, a media outlet said "Hope Project, a private agency of Lee Ha-nui, whose capital was only KRW 10 million at the time of its establishment, purchased real estate worth KRW 6.5 billion in the name of the corporation two years after its establishment, but the source of funds is unclear, raising questions."," he reported.
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.).
Earlier on the 17th, the previous day, Field News reported that Lee Ha-nee and Hope Project were subjected to an intensive tax audit in September last year and were collected as much as 6 billion won in taxes.
The additional fine is the largest ever compared to actor Song Hye-kyo and actor Kwon Sang-woo, who were charged 3.5 billion won after undergoing a tax audit in the past.
According to reports, Lee Ha-nee founded a corporation called 'Hani' in 2015 and changed its name to Hope Project, Inc. in 2022. Lee Ha-nee served as CEO and in-house director of the corporation until January 2023. Currently, Lee Ha-nee's husband is in charge of the representative position, and Lee Ha-nee is in charge of the inside director.
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.
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.
In addition, Lee Ha-nee married a financial worker in 2021 and has one daughter as a child.
yaqqol@sportschosun.com
