{"text":[[{"start":8.52,"text":"China has vowed harsh consequences for tax evaders as revenue netted from personal income tax nearly doubled and authorities tightened scrutiny over the trillions of dollars stashed overseas by the country’s wealthy."}],[{"start":20.48,"text":"Beijing in October collected more than Rmb120bn ($18bn) in personal income tax from offshore trusts owned by Chinese residents, contributing to a 90 per cent year-on-year increase in individual tax revenue, according to the State Taxation Administration."}],[{"start":36.84,"text":"The sharp increase was driven by Beijing’s October 22 deadline for wealthy Chinese to declare their offshore trust holdings and start paying a 20 per cent tax on profits from the trusts."}],[{"start":48.32,"text":"Tax authorities said the “vast majority” of taxpayers had co-operated with the transition to the new regime. But they also signalled their focus on those who had failed to voluntarily declare their taxes or those who had submitted false declarations."}],[{"start":61.56,"text":"“For taxpayers who still fail to declare or submit false declarations after being urged, measures such as filing cases for investigation will be taken in accordance with the law, and those with egregious circumstances will be publicly exposed,” officials said, according to a report by Xinhua, the state news agency."}],[{"start":70.67,"text":"“At the same time, the tax authorities will also severely punish, in accordance with the law, illegal intermediary agencies and individuals who induce or assist taxpayers to evade taxes, and will expose them as appropriate,” officials added."}],[{"start":94.88,"text":"Based on the 90 per cent year-on-year increase reported for October, China’s estimated personal income tax revenue for the first 10 months of this year is likely to have exceeded last year’s total, according to FT calculations."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":107.16,"text":"The tax overhaul brings China’s tax system in line with the US and Europe and helps Beijing address the fiscal pressure that has been mounting since the country’s property downturn, experts say."}],[{"start":117.76,"text":"The offshore trust tax campaign has rocked the vast wealth management industry targeting rich Chinese people."}],[{"start":123.94,"text":"While Beijing’s tax officials said in July that the rules would first apply to gains on offshore assets from 2023 to 2025, the FT reported in August that in some cases the authorities’ scrutiny of overseas capital gains and investments went as far back as 2000."}],[{"start":140.32,"text":"Harry Yu, a senior partner at Hong Kong-based Fung Yu Trust Services, who advises China-connected families on cross-border wealth structuring, said, while the immediate tax collection exercise has made “substantial progress”, the broader industry adjustment is “far from complete”."}],[{"start":158,"text":"“Families are still reconstructing records across trustees, private banks, underlying companies and private equity investments,” he said, adding there are also “valuation and interpretation issues for mainland tax advisers to work through”."}],[{"start":172.62,"text":"“And once the historical position is addressed, there’s the next question: how do families maintain annual compliance, manage liquidity and decide whether their existing arrangements still make sense?”"}],[{"start":189.84,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794471507_8909.mp3"}