Beijing’s offshore trust tax changes could affect wealth hubs including Singapore

The city-state’s lawyers, financial advisers and banks say impact is hard to evaluate, still in ‘early stages’Offshore trusts have long been used by wealthy Chinese families as a cross-border asset protection and succession tool. PHOTO: UNSPLASH[SINGAPORE] China’s new rules announced on Jul 24 to tax offshore trusts could have widespread implications for wealth hubs such as Singapore, experts say. Offshore trusts have long been used by wealthy Chinese families as a cross-border asset protection and succession tool. Within two weeks of the announcement, media group Caixin reported that local tax bureaus had begun levying personal income tax on returns from insurance policies, though this has not been confirmed by official sources.