On February 17, Lee Ha Nee's management company (nickname Honey Lee) Team Hope issued an official statement about the tax investigation into the actress, after the news that Honey Lee had to collect up to 6 billion won (about 105 billion VND) in taxes.
The company affirmed: "Lee Ha Nee honestly responded to the tax investigation conducted by the Seoul Tax Department as part of an unusually integrated tax investigation into corporate artists.
Lee Ha Nee has faithfully fulfilled his tax obligations by complying with the law and procedures as advised by the tax representative. This tax is an additional tax due to the difference in views between the tax authority and her tax representative, and she has paid the entire amount.
We would like to announce that this has absolutely nothing to do with intentional tax evasion.
Earlier, on the morning of February 17, Korean media reported that the Seoul Tax Department conducted an in-depth tax investigation into actress Honey Lee and Hope Project in September last year, collecting a whopping 6 billion won in taxes, including income tax.
The Gangnam Tax Investigation Agency conducted an unusual tax investigation into Honey Lee's former management company, Saram Entertainment, in 2022, and began the investigation after discovering evidence of tax evasion between Honey Lee and Saram Entertainment.
Honey Lee founded Ha-nee Co., Ltd. in 2015 while still under Saram Entertainment, then renamed the company Lee Rye Yoon Co., Ltd. in January 2018 and continued to change its name to Hope Project in September 2022.
Honey Lee held the position of CEO and internal director of the company until January 2023. Currently, her husband is the CEO and Honey Lee is the internal director.
6 billion won is the largest amount of tax collected ever in the Korean entertainment industry. Previously, Song Hye Kyo had to pay an additional 3.5 billion won in taxes after the 2012 investigation. Actor Kwon Sang Woo was charged 1 billion won in 2020. Recently, actor Park Hee Soon had to pay 800 million won, actress Jun Ji Hyun had to pay an additional 20 million won.
Although Honey Lee's company confirmed that the actress did not intentionally evade taxes, this could negatively affect her reputation.
Honey Lee was born in 1983, she was crowned Miss Korea in 2006. After that, the beauty participated in the Miss Universe 2007 contest and won the 3rd runner-up title.
When he moved into acting, Honey Lee had built a successful career. She participated in many popular film and television projects such as " super difficult profession", "Pasta - Food of love", "Mr. Returne", "The Passionate Priest", "Flowers bloom at night", "One The Woman"... At the same time, Honey Lee was also recognized with prestigious acting awards.
In the near future, Honey Lee will return to the small screen with the Netflix original series Emma and appear in the new TV series of famous screenwriter Noh Hee Kyung Slowly and Intensely (working title), co-starring with Song Hye Kyo, Gong Yoo, Seolhyun (AOA), Cha Seung Won.
