Actor Kim Seon-ho has been embroiled in allegations of tax evasion, and the revelation that he received settlement payments through a one-person agency while signed to his former agency has added weight to the suspicions.
On the 3rd, Kim Seon-ho's current agency Fantagio told OSEN, "It is correct that after establishing the corporation in January 2024, settlement payments were temporarily received (from the previous agency)." In this regard, the former agency told OSEN, "We only deposited the settlement payments to the place the actor requested."
Earlier, Kim Seon-ho was accused of showing signs of having committed practical tax evasion by creating a family corporation operated separately from Fantagio. According to reports, Kim Seon-ho set up and operates a separate performance planning company at his residence address in Yongsan District, Seoul, and the company directors are Kim Seon-ho's parents. Meanwhile, it was reported that Kim Seon-ho used the corporate bank account to pay his parents monthly salaries ranging from a few hundred thousand won to several million won, and the parents who received wages from this corporation were then observed transferring those salaries back to Kim Seon-ho each month. In addition, Kim Seon-ho's parents used the corporation's card to pay living and entertainment expenses, the father covered cigarette and karaoke bar charges with the corporate card, and the vehicle they use is registered in the corporation's name.
Critics argued that increasing company expenses to treat them as deductible costs was intended to reduce corporate tax, and that private use of the corporate card could amount to breach of trust and embezzlement. But agency Fantagio explained in an official statement, "The past one-person corporation was established for theater 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 had not been conducted for about a year, and we are currently undergoing closure procedures in accordance with relevant laws and procedures."
However, the controversy reignited when reports emerged that Kim Seon-ho received settlement payments for entertainment activities through the one-person corporation '에스에이치두' that was established in January 2024 when he was signed to his previous agency. If income were recorded under Kim Seon-ho personally, income tax including local government tax could reach up to 49.5%, but if processed as corporate income, it could receive the benefit of corporate tax of up to 19%, so critics argue this appears to be tax avoidance behavior aimed at the difference in tax rates.
Furthermore, the statement that "actual business activities have not been conducted for about a year" was seen by some as a spark that could grow into an "embezzlement/breach of trust controversy." If corporate cards were used and salaries were paid to the parents despite a lack of business activity, those would correspond to nonbusiness-related expenses (temporary payments) under tax law, which could legally be interpreted as having the character of "embezzlement" or "breach of trust."
Also, the corporation's address being the same as Kim Seon-ho's residence has added suspicion of a paper company. This resembles the case of singer and actor Cha Eun-woo, who recently received a tax bill of about 20 billion won from the National Tax Service, making the issue more controversial. Cha Eun-woo is also accused of evading more than 10 billion won in income tax through a paper company established by his mother. Kim Seon-ho's side has said, "It is not a corporation established for the purpose of deliberate tax avoidance or tax evasion," but to dispel the "sham corporation" suspicion it seems necessary to demonstrate whether substantive business activities were conducted.
Meanwhile, Kim Seon-ho recently appeared in the Netflix series "Is This Love Interpretable?" His upcoming projects include TVING's In the Net, Disney+'s Portraits of Delusion, and tvN's The lawmaker's blessing, and attention is focused on whether the tax evasion allegations will affect the release plans for those projects.
[photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]