Actress Lee Ha-nui has revealed her stance regarding the national tax service's tax investigation and the details of the taxes she has paid.
Lee Ha-nui's agency TeamHope noted on the 17th, "Lee Ha-nui faithfully responded to the tax investigation conducted by the Seoul Regional Tax Service as part of a non-regular comprehensive planning tax investigation for corporate business artist in the last year."
She added, "Lee Ha-nui has fulfilled her tax obligations faithfully in accordance with the law and procedures under the guidance of her tax representatives, and the additional tax she paid was due to differences in perspectives between the tax authorities and tax representatives, and that it has no relation to any intentional tax evasion."
Earlier, the Seoul Regional Tax Service conducted a tax investigation against Lee Ha-nui and the corporation Hope Project she owns in September of last year. It was revealed that the tax authorities had claimed taxes amounting to 6 billion won.
Compared to the additional taxes imposed on past actors such as Song Hye-kyo and Kwon Sang-woo, this additional tax on Lee Ha-nui has been evaluated as unprecedented. The tax authorities had claimed approximately 3.5 billion won from actress Song Hye-kyo in 2012 and about 1 billion won from Kwon Sang-woo in 2020.
The Gangnam Tax Office's investigation division reportedly detected signs of tax evasion between Lee Ha-nui and her former agency, People Entertainment, during a non-regular tax investigation in 2022.
Lee Ha-nui established the corporation 'Hani Co., Ltd.' in October 2015. In January 2018, she changed the company's name to 'Ireeyun Co., Ltd.' Subsequently, in September 2022, she renamed it back to 'Hope Project.' Lee Ha-nui served as the CEO and internal director of this corporation until January 2023. Currently, her husband holds the CEO position, and Lee Ha-nui is responsible for the internal director role.