Kim Jae-joong’s agency explains stance on singer’s additional tax fined in 2020

On March 9, Kim Jae-joong’s agency, C-JeS Entertainment, released a statement explaining their stance on the tax investigation in 2020 that led to the artist paying 100 million KRW in additional tax.

The agency strongly stated that the artist had “no intention” to evade tax payments and had paid them dutifully during the investigation in 2020. It also mentioned that the discrepancy might have arrived because of the time difference, since the artist was traveling between Korea and Japan at the time of the settlement process which might have led to some time differences.

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Kim Jae-joong is the latest Korean artist to release a statement on additional tax fine

Despite the tax investigation taking place in 2020, Kim Jae-joong’s agency posted an official statement regarding the artist paying additional taxes on March 9, 2023. It is believed to have stemmed from the many conversations around multiple Korean celebrities who are rumored to or have reportedly been fined for potential tax evasion recently.

With the aim of clearing any doubts or misunderstandings, Kim Jae-joong’s agency gave details about the reason behind the artist’s additional taxes:

“During the tax investigation in 2020, some of the revenue generated from [the artist’s] activities in Japan was omitted, resulting in additional taxes, and he has paid 100 million won in additional taxes.”

It also explained that the time zone difference and a mislabeling in expenses had led to the extra tax he was required to pay. It added that he did pay an additional 10 million KRW immediately:

“At that time, he reported tax on sales and paid it dutifully, but there was a time difference in the settlement process while traveling back and forth between Korea and Japan. Some of the amount that he reported as necessary expenses was judged to be unrelated to the business, so after confirming that additional tax had occurred, he paid it immediately."

It added:

"This was only due to the difference in interpretation of tax law which distinguishes business expenditures from private expenditures, and there was no intention [of tax evasion] whatsoever.”

Meanwhile, Kim Jae-joong is the latest Korean celebrity to make headlines for additional tax fines. On February 8, the National Tax Service stated that it will be conducting investigations on “celebrities, athletes, gamers, and webtoon writers” as they had “evaded income while enjoying stable high profits based on public recognition,” as per Herald Pop.

Since the notice, Kim Tae-hee, Lee Min-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Kwon Sang, and True Beauty webtoon author Yaongyi have made multiple headlines for potentially evading taxes. All the actors’ agencies released official statements refuting tax evasion allegations through their respective cases of clarifications.

On February 13, reports revealed that True Beauty’s then-latest episode released on February 6, noticed a dip in ratings. While the other episodes received ratings above 8.90, the February 6 episode received only 6.89.

The ratings potentially reduced after Yaongyi personally stated that she was the webtoon author who was being investigated by the income tax authorities.