Lee Yi Kyung's agency apologizes for tax controversy involving one-man agency

Lee Yi Kyung's agency has released an official statement regarding the results of a tax audit of his one-man agency.

The controversy stemmed from an irregular tax investigation conducted by the National Tax Service into Marry My Husband actor Lee Yi Kyung's one-man agency. Tax authorities determined that there was a possibility of tax avoidance in the way some of Lee Yi Kyung's personal income was processed as corporate revenue, thereby subjecting it to the lower maximum corporate tax rate rather than the personal income tax rate.

Below is the full official statement from SANGYOUNG ENT:

Hello, this is SANGYOUNG ENT. We would like to address the results of the tax investigation related to our agency's actor Lee Yi Kyung.

First, we sincerely apologize for causing concern to many people because of this matter.

Since his debut, Lee Yi Kyung has always complied with tax laws and faithfully fulfilled his tax obligations. During the recent tax investigation process as well, he transparently submitted the relevant materials and cooperated diligently with the investigation.

The results of this tax investigation stemmed from differences in the interpretation of tax laws between the tax authorities and our company regarding the criteria for expense reporting during the operation of the corporation. We would like to clearly state that there was absolutely no intentional omission of income or tax evasion through improper means.

Our company respects the findings of the National Tax Service and will pay the imposed penalty tax without delay in accordance with the relevant procedures.

Once again, we sincerely apologize for causing concern to many people, and we will more thoroughly review our tax and accounting management system to ensure that similar issues do not occur in the future. We will continue to comply with the law and principles and faithfully fulfill our tax obligations.

Recently, the Korean entertainment industry has been embroiled in controversy after it was revealed that numerous high-profile actors, including Cha Eun Woo, Kim Seon Ho, Yoo Yeon Seok, and Lee Ha Nee, were subjected to additional tax assessments during tax management processes involving their one-man corporations.

One-man agencies are a common way used by celebrities to manage income and expenses from their activities in a corporate format. However, as controversies emerged, the Korea Management Federation called for institutional improvements regarding celebrities' one-man corporations and tax matters in February.

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