As allegations of tax evasion against actor Kim Seon-ho continued, advertisers are moving to cut ties. Kim Seon-ho has denied the allegations outright, but his image appears unable to avoid damage.
On the 3rd, fashion brand Beanpole deleted from its official account the teaser video for its 2026 spring collection that it had uploaded. The video, released last month, featured actor Kim Seon-ho and had suggested the fact that he had been newly chosen as a model.
However, the teaser video is now gone from Beanpole's official social media as well as YouTube. The YouTube video was set to limited visibility so that it could only be viewed by entering the link. This appears to be fallout from the recently raised tax evasion allegations.
Earlier, Kim Seon-ho was accused of creating a family corporation operated separately from Fantagio to carry out effective tax evasion. If income were recorded as Kim Seon-ho's personal income, income tax including local government tax could reach up to 49.5%, but if processed as corporate income the benefit of a top corporate tax rate of 19% could be gained, so it is seen as a tax avoidance act aiming at the difference in tax rates.
Kim Seon-ho is operating a separate performance planning company registered at his home address in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and the company's internal directors are reported to be Kim Seon-ho's parents. Meanwhile, it was reported that Kim Seon-ho paid his parents monthly salaries of hundreds to thousands of won using the corporate bank account, and there are signs that the parents who received those salaries from the corporation transferred the salaries back to Kim Seon-ho each month.
In addition, allegations have been raised that Kim Seon-ho's parents used the corporation-owned card to pay living and entertainment expenses and that the vehicle they used was registered in the company's name. Added to this are allegations of operating without registration for public culture and art planning and, because the corporation's address and Kim Seon-ho's residence address are the same, suspicions that it is a paper company have intensified.
Regarding this, current agency Fantagio said in an official statement, "The sole proprietorship was established in the past for theatrical production and theater-related activities, and it was never established for the purpose of deliberate tax avoidance or tax evasion. After transferring to Fantagio, actual business activities ceased more than a year ago, and we are currently proceeding with closure procedures in accordance with relevant laws and procedures," the agency explained.
Despite this explanation, the suspicions have not been completely resolved. Some have raised the opinion that the statement "actual business activities ceased more than a year ago" could inadvertently kindle a controversy over embezzlement or breach of trust. If the corporate card was used and salaries were paid to the parents despite there being no business activity, those payments would, under tax law, fall under "nonbusiness-related expenses (receivables)" and could ultimately be interpreted legally as having the character of "embezzlement" or "breach of trust."
Meanwhile, on the 3rd it was revealed that Kim Seon-ho received settlement payments through that sole proprietorship while he was with his previous agency, lending weight to the tax evasion suspicions. Fantagio told OSEN, "After the corporation was established in January 2024, it is correct that settlement was received temporarily (from the previous agency)," and the previous agency also explained, "We simply deposited the settlement into the place the actor requested."
Receiving settlements through a corporation is not a problem, but if the corporation in question is a "paper company" with no substantive business activity, it becomes subject to collection by the National Tax Service as in the earlier Cha Eun-woo case. In response, calls have continued for Kim Seon-ho to prove the substantive existence of the sole proprietorship he established. In this situation, Beanpole switched the teaser video that announced Kim Seon-ho's selection as a model to private, moving quickly to cut ties.
Meanwhile, interest continues in the schedule for the release of Kim Seon-ho's next works amid the tax evasion allegations. Kim Seon-ho is scheduled to appear in TVING's In the Net, Disney+'s Portraits of Delusion and tvN's The lawmaker blesses. In response, Portraits of Delusion told OSEN, "There is no confirmed release timing or schedule yet," expressing caution. In addition, In the Net had been discussed for programming as a TVING original drama but its scheduling fell through earlier independent of this matter, and The lawmaker blesses is in a pre-crank stage so no official scheduling or release date has been confirmed.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]