Actor Lee Ha-nee admitted she unintentionally committed tax evasion, her agency TeamHope said on Monday.

Local news outlet Field News reported on Monday that tax authorities levied a 6 billion won ($4.17 million) tax bill on Lee after a non-regular tax audit conducted in September.


“Lee faithfully complied with the Seoul Regional Tax Office's non-regular tax audit, which was conducted as part of a non-regular comprehensive tax audit,” the actor's agency said in its press release.

“Lee filed tax faithfully following her tax adviser’s guidance and paid the requested amount of taxes due to disparities in the perspectives of the tax authorities and Lee's tax adviser.”

“Lee has never engaged in intentional tax evasion,” TeamHope added.

Lee, the winner of the Miss Korea beauty pageant in 2006, kicked off her acting career through a musical in 2008. She starred in dramas like “Partner” (2009) and “Pasta” (2010) and kicked off her on-screen career with "HIT" (2011).

The actor is known for films like “Extreme Job” (2019), “Fabricated City” (2017) and "Tazza-The Hidden Card" (2014).

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]