Cha Eun Woo Pays 13 Billion Won in Owed Taxes Closing the Scandal on Alleged Tax Evasion
So let’s see if K-ent is good with actor Cha Eun Woo now that his alleged tax evasion scandal is over. This week the star paid 13 billion won (approximately $13 million USD) in assessed taxes to the government after what has been a years long investigation into allegations that he set up shell companies and used it to pay lower or no taxes on his entertainment and endorsement income. His agency is claiming it’s all just a mistake, admitting to owing back taxes but not admitting it was done intentionally to evade taxes. Sure Jan, whatever you say. His big drama The WONDERfools with Park Eun Bin was supposed to have premiered already on Netflix but the date has been removed so if the platform puts it back on its airing schedule that will be a sign that his scandal will not impact his career.
That is a lot of money but good that he paid it instead of running away from it. But yah will it or won’t it affect him? Guess we wait and see.
well if he didn’t pay it means jail time so he didn’t have much of a choice lol the problem really is evading those taxes in the first place even when he’ll remain a millionaire especially when the rest of the citizens earn significantly less and follow the law they’re even if they’re not left with much after. but yeah since this is the biggest tax scandal of the industry curious to see if they accept him back easily
Wonderfools is a Netflix show, not Disney+
So he owed taxes at the end of the day…
More than the money, him losing his good image is a bigger loss. With that prince like face that looks like he came straight from a manhwa and a good rep he was endorsement gold. I mean his visuals are just top notch and acting projects here and there, the female population is sold on that image. But now, he’s got a “greedy reputation”.
Yes. His clean, perfect image was his biggest “backing.” He used to remind me of a younger male version Kim Tae Hee:
– the campus crush (for extremely good looks and being sports-oriented),
– the teachers’ favorite (for being well-mannered and well-behaved),
– the elite academic achiever (for top grades),
– and also the “needs improvement acting” criticism.
I have a feeling he will survive this controversy but without the good image, everything will now have to rely on his acting. If it remains the same, he’ll fade away. If it improves and he gets a breakthrough project, he’ll bounce back. But the tax criticisms will still hound him here and there.
Yes. His clean, perfect image was his biggest “backing.” He used to remind me of a younger male version Kim Tae Hee:
– the campus crush (for extremely good looks and being sports-oriented),
– the teachers’ favorite (for being well-mannered and well-behaved),
– the elite academic achiever (for top grades),
– and also the “needs improvement acting” criticism.
I have a feeling he will survive this controversy but without the good image, everything will now have to rely on his acting. If it remains the same, he’ll fade away. If it improves and he gets a breakthrough project, he’ll bounce back. But the tax criticisms will still hound him here and there.
Ooops. Sorry for double-posting. @koala please delete (if possible) 🙏🏽
I don’t get that he’s #1 K actor with the most Instagram followers. I don’t get the hype about his visuals, not to mention he is a bland actor. Nonetheless, I hope Netflix premieres the Wonderfools soon cuz I’d like to watch PEB. He is irrelevant. As a matter of fact, I hope he doesn’t ruin the drama.
Owed that kind of amount in taxes, but not evading…. sure sure….
Yoo Yeon Seok made a comeback, but him was about one 4th of that money.
Yoo Yeon Seok’s case is different because it stemmed from a dispute of the tax amount. In the end, he settled the amount that he contested for instead of the one that the IRD claimed he owed. Also, the tax dispute was settled within less than 4 months, hence doesn’t sound like tax evasion, unlike the case here with CEW.
I’m enjoying YYS’ comeback drama on Netflix. I didn’t get his appeal in When the Phone Rings. But he impresses me in Phantom Lawyer. He’s such a versatile actor.
On a side note, Kdrama has a lot of good looking actors for leading roles. They don’t have to face vitriol from the public like C actors except for non-performance related trivia such as tax disputes etc. since K actors can act. lol.
People making excuses for manchild. He is still responsible for his actions and it was whole family scam. And he has really high income. His group wasn’t a success but his endorsements were quite global next only to blackpink members . Wonder how much those and BTS members earn jeez. If eunwoo has such tax bill over many established actors.
Rich people shouldn’t get high five if they evade taxes. They should be jailed and set as an examplr
Reactions to tax evasion in South Korea are strong because they are rooted in cultural events related to the abuse of power by the wealthy. However, there is no metric that indicates Cha Eunwoo has caused inherent harm that would warrant a prison sentence to set a precedent. LOL.
Once he has paid the fine, he will be able to continue his career, although it will be difficult for him since he is a subpar actor and his success depended heavily on the image he projected: a good-looking man with good manners + remarkable work ethic. Now that trust in him has been lost, it’s going to be an uphill battle.
The reactions of the general public are understandable but not those that come from the entertainment communities, they are acting as if they just realized that he had an enormous beauty privilege. They were clearly following him for his looks and perhaps now it hurts them to admire that they are shallow and were getting carried away by the halo effect, even letting themselves be completely carried away by an image of an idol knowing how manufactured the industry is. Finding all kinds of faults in him now is convenient, even though they were never vocal enough because of his lack of talent both as an idol nor as his actor. They just let him be because of his pretty face and nice body.
admite*
@Lara, bingo. I noticed it on several social media accounts dedicated to K-dramas. They were enjoying his visuals (especially in Wonderful World) and considering the criticism about his bad performance to be hate. Now they’re trying to cope saying that he always gave them bad vibes. LOL. I would say they “recalled” the “moral superiority” of supporting talent but they still haven’t addressed it directly.
Eunwoo will get back his endorsements as most ads aren’t just local. Overseas audience don’t care about such scandals. We have Chris brown, Ariana Grande all have careers after scandals. One domestic abuse. One being a home wrecker.
Eunwoo really made a career out of that face. His drama aren’t big rating blockbusters but get decent ott audience. His cf rate must be very high to have such tax bill. If his next drama is a bit and he keep low for some years, he will get back all cfs with time. Song Hye kyo got them back too with time. Not to mention his cfs aren’t just Korean centric. Only blackpink members are the ones whose CFS aren’t domestic focused
Ariana Grande is literally a Grammy winner and Oscar nominee, she has one thing CEW never did: TALENT.
He couldn’t act, couldn’t sing, his entire appeal as a celebrity was based on having a pretty face and a ‘clean image’ to be used as advertisements. Well his face is still pretty but his clean image is in the bin, Song Hyekyo gets tax evader comments to this day over a tax bill one third of what CEW owned and which she paid without fighting
and “homewrecking” isn’t an offence under the law, underpaying $10 million worth of taxes…. is.
It’s not $10 million, but I agree with you. Cha Eunwoo’s lack of talent is what makes his future look uncertain. LOL. The general public was always willing to give him chances because of his status as a “national treasure” (In 2025, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism even identified him as one of the top 10 “Hallyu Star Actors” associated with the national image), which even led him to become one of the muses for the mainstream film K-pop Demon Hunters.
Perhaps international brands still view him favorably since his commercial influence wasn’t limited to South Korea. But as an actor, it’s going to be tough. I’m curious to see what the reactions to The Wonderfools will be.
Koala, just a correction: it wasn’t $13 million.
OSEN‘s investigation revealed that in this case, it was impossible to pay in advance due to the system. Payment could only be made after receiving a tax notice, which had not been issued until recently, so even Cha Eunwoo himself did not know the confirmed amount of ₩13.0 billion KRW (about $8.79 million USD). The widely known “tax evasion amount of ₩20.0 billion KRW (about $13.5 million USD)” was only an estimate, not a confirmed sum.
G-Dragon recently liked Cha Eunwoo’s apology post regarding his tax issue. Other relevant names in South Korea have also done so. I’m confused since it could affect them as well, but they’ve expressed their support publicly. Cha Eun-woo paid the sum but it was actually never confirmed if he had accumulated fees or if he was avoiding taxes. It’s not simple since Taxpayers’ Union has filed a complaint against the person who reported back the tax notice issued to Cha Eun-woo and the tax officials involved. People have been parasocial with him both positively and negatively lately.
@Lara. The most fun one for me was Lee Joo-young, a heir of Daelim Group.