Comedian Lee Hyuk-jae (51) expressed his resentment over being included in the National Tax Service‘s list of high-value tax delinquents.

In an interview with entertainment and sports media OSEN on the 17th, Lee Hyuk-jae said, “The company is currently unable to pay taxes. Since I am the CEO of the company, I think the right of subrogation has been transferred to me.”

He then claimed, “I know (about the tax delinquency). I talk to the National Tax Service all the time. But the unpaid wages from the companies we do business with are now over 1 billion won.”

Lee Hyuk-jae said, “I filed a civil lawsuit, and the case number is 2022, but it’s been going on for about 3 years and there has been no ruling, so I haven‘t paid my taxes.” He added, “The lawsuits of people who haven’t received the money they are owed are being delayed, but if you don‘t pay the taxes you owe, they come up like this right away. There’s nothing I can do. I will take full responsibility.”

Lee Hyuk-jae said that he has won the lawsuit against his business partner but has not yet received the money. He claimed, “What good is it if I win the lawsuit? They’re not paying it. It’s driving me crazy. Fortunately, that company has a lot of assets, so they’ve seized them all, but what’s the point of seizing them? You only get money if you get money.”

“I will take responsibility. It’s not like the country doesn’t collect interest on overdue payments. People may think negatively because there are people who intentionally avoid paying their taxes illegally, but I have never avoided paying my taxes.”

He also added, “I know that I have not paid 600 million won to the National Tax Service, but I should have received close to 1.3 billion won. I just need to receive it and pay it.” “I went to the National Tax Service and submitted all the lawsuit documents and explained it myself. They also claimed, “They knew my circumstances, but they told me to do it because they ‘had no choice.’”

The list of new high-amount and habitual tax delinquents released that day by the National Tax Service after deliberation by the National Tax Information Committee includes many famous people such as Lee Hyuk-jae, novelist Kim Jin-myeong, and Chef Edward Kwon.

Lee Hyuk-jae’s name was included on the individual list because he was in arrears of 223 million won. Christian Memorial Center, a corporation of which he is the CEO, was also included on the list of high-amount and habitual corporate tax delinquents because he was in arrears of 330 million won in value-added tax, etc.

The list released this time shows cases where delinquent taxes were not paid despite forced collections such as seizures and public auctions, as well as administrative sanctions such as departure bans and provision of delinquent tax information. These cases involved methods such as hiding stock transfer proceeds in special related corporations by bypassing third parties or embezzling land transfer proceeds from the former CEO. The National Tax Service is currently conducting procedures such as searching the actual residence of tax delinquents suspected of hiding assets, filing lawsuits to cancel gambling activities, and reporting tax delinquency evasion crimes.

Meanwhile, Lee Hyuk-jae debuted as an MBC public recruit comedian in 1999. He went on to win the KBS Entertainment Grand Prize in 2004. Lee Hyuk-jae left the broadcasting industry in January 2010 amid controversy over the assault incident on a room salon employee. After a period of self-reflection, he resumed his broadcasting activities in 2011, but failed to gain much popularity due to the public‘s indifference.

〈Newsis〉