Beijing’s tax crackdown tests wealthy Chinese property buyers in Singapore

[SINGAPORE] China’s tightening grip on offshore wealth may be forcing wealthy Chinese to rethink how – and where – they hold their assets, with Singapore property bought under trust structures especially under scrutiny.

While the ultra-rich may now be recalculating their wealth routes, market watchers reckoned that Singapore’s safe haven status would continue to draw the wealthy amid changing geopolitics.

In late July, Beijing imposed a 20 per cent income tax on offshore trusts, long viewed as a grey area through which high-net-worth individuals have been harbouring wealth. The stepped up efforts to enforce taxes on offshore income and gains made by Chinese tax residents have also stoked concern that the authorities could broaden their tax net further and deter investment.