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Actor-turned-shaman hit with back taxes for fortune-telling business

Published: 13 Aug. 2025, 13:43

Jeong Ho-keun [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Actor-turned-shaman Jeong Ho-keun has been ordered to pay five years of back taxes owed because he “thought fortune-telling was exempt from taxes.”

Jose Ilbo reported Tuesday that Jeong operated a shrine without registering as a business until 2021 and did not report earnings or pay taxes, prompting an investigation by the National Tax Service (NTS).

The NTS Seongbuk District Office and the Seoul Regional Tax Office notified him of unpaid taxes in two separate cases covering the years 2017 to 2021.

The Seongbuk office conducted an integrated personal tax audit in 2022 and assessed value-added tax (VAT) and income tax on four years of income Jeong earned as a shaman from 2018 to 2021.

The Seoul Regional Tax Office last year reviewed the Seongbuk office’s tax decision and found additional unreported income from 2017 to the first half of 2018, issuing an extra VAT bill for one year and six months. Jeong filed an appeal with the Tax Tribunal.

“I only rented the shrine for filming in 2017 and the lack of permanent facilities meant it was not a taxable business,” Jeong said.

But the tribunal ruled that the NTS acted appropriately. It cited TV programs and YouTube videos as evidence that Jeong had been offering fortune-telling services at the location since at least 2017.

“I thought shamanic activities were exempt from tax,” Jeong said. “I considered the income to be similar to donations to a religious facility. I relied on shamanic customs and the advice of nonexperts because I lacked tax knowledge. I had no idea fortune-telling services were subject to VAT.

“I had no intention of evading taxes and have since paid the full amount. I finished paying the first tax assessment from the Seongbuk office years ago. For last year’s second assessment, I took out a loan to pay a large portion immediately and am paying the remainder in installments.”

Jeong debuted in 1984 as an MBC open recruitment actor and appeared in dramas including “The Boss” (1999), “Hur Jun” (1999) and “Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror” (2011). He has worked as a shaman since 2015 and runs a YouTube channel.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom staff.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]