Wealthy Chinese are moving offshore assets to US banks to avoid Beijing's widening tax enforcement, CNBC reported on Friday. Private bankers and lawyers say inquiries about opening US accounts have grown in the months after China imposed retroactive taxes on offshore wealth in July.
Keith Tan, chief executive of Singapore-based Golden Acacia Capital, said his clients began planning exits to the US in July, with some setting up accounts in under two months. China announced in July that income and gains from overseas trusts owned by Chinese tax residents would be taxed at 20 per cent. Lawyers in Singapore and Hong Kong have been working to tally tax bills, facilitate trust unwinding and arrange loans to meet payments.
The US sits outside the Common Reporting Standard, the OECD framework under which more than 100 jurisdictions automatically share financial account data. Banks in Singapore and Hong Kong are required to report China-linked accounts to Beijing; American banks have no such obligation. James Wang, chief executive of Blue Brick Consulting Group, said non-resident clients opening foreign bank accounts in the US can find investment vehicles with reduced or no tax-filing obligations to the Internal Revenue Service. A New York-based wealth-planning adviser who works with Chinese family offices said US banks are straining to keep up with demand, with some shortening timeframes for clients to meet minimum capital commitments.
Chinese families with offspring holding US green cards have used foreign grantor trusts to shield them from some US tax exposure, Tan said, with low-tax states such as Nevada and Florida becoming popular. Clifford Ng, a partner at Zhong Lun law firm in Hong Kong, said some with Hong Kong or Singapore residency whose trusts have not yet been flagged to Beijing may unwind those structures and transfer the money out.
Why it matters for wealth
The shift could reshape global private banking flows as Chinese clients seek jurisdictions beyond the automatic-reporting network. Money held offshore has probably already been reported to Beijing through the Common Reporting Standard, Ng said, so a transfer from a Singapore or Hong Kong bank to a US one would be visible on its way out.
Lawyers caution the route may be temporary. Cris Cao, Beijing-based partner at W&H Law Firm, said moving money to US accounts does not reduce or wipe out the tax authorities' right to tax. Jingkuan Lin, a private banker at Bank of Singapore, said nearly no sizeable money onshore will be able to leave the country from now on, limiting the offshore banking industry to serving the existing pool of capital outside China.
Source: CNBC
Read next: Countries with no income tax in 2026
Related data: How many millionaires in the US? 23.6 million in 2025
Photo: Ivana Rodriguez / Pexels
