While the case of actor Cha Eun Woo being retroactively taxed with 20 billion won (nearly 360 billion VND) is causing a stir in the Korean entertainment industry, many other artists are also being named for similar tax evasion, including actress Song Hye Kyo.
In 2014, when Song Hye Kyo was already an A-list star with a series of blockbuster works leading the Hallyu wave such as "Autumn's Heart", "Full House", the National Tax Department suddenly revealed that the actress had tax evasion of up to 2.5 billion won.
According to a report from the Tax Department, in three years from 2009 to 2011, Song Hye Kyo declared an income of 5.953 billion won and said that the money was spent on reasonable expenses such as travel, transportation...
However, 92.3% of this amount did not have valid documents, leading to a total tax loss of 2.557 billion won (about 45 billion VND).
After that, Song Hye Kyo's management company spoke up to admit that the actress was being taxed and sent an apology to fans.
But the company affirmed, "Song Hye Kyo was not aware of this", but the artist's tax payment was entrusted to a law firm and the responsibility belonged to 2 accountants of the law firm who had resigned.
However, the statement that Song Hye Kyo's side is said to be "intentionally blaming", "avoiding responsibility", the actress was heavily criticized, and Korean public opinion called for a boycott.
It was not until the movie "Descendants of the Sun" aired in 2016 and achieved resounding results that Song Hye Kyo saved her reputation. To this day, the tax evasion case is still considered the biggest scandal in the career of the beauty born in 1981.
Meanwhile, recently, the National Tax Department announced the recovery of 20 billion won in taxes from actor Cha Eun Woo. He is accused of evading personal income tax through a "ghost company" founded by his mother and he himself holds the role of internal director.
Cha Eun Woo's tax evasion allegations are the highest-paid tax evasion among Korean artists to date, and rank 6th worldwide.
Audiences discovered that both Cha Eun Woo and Song Hye Kyo are global ambassadors of the Chaumet luxury jewelry brand. Both have attended many brand events in Korea and abroad.
On online communities, Korean audiences are discussing this detail excitedly. Many people call Song Hye Kyo and Cha Eun Woo "tax-evading sisters", "tax-evading duo".
With the scale of the tax evasion unprecedented in the Korean entertainment industry, Cha Eun Woo began to face "punishment" from the advertising industry.
Shinhan Bank - one of the 5 largest banks in Korea - has moved Cha Eun Woo's videos and advertising images on YouTube channels and social media accounts to private mode.
Skin care brand Abib has also deleted posts announcing Cha Eun Woo becoming a brand ambassador since last year.
