Business · Economy · 21 hrs ago
China tax officials contact journalists about offshore trusts
China is stepping up efforts to tackle tax avoidance, including targeting income held by wealthy families in offshore trusts.
Several journalists say tax officials have contacted them in recent weeks.
One colleague in Beijing received a text from the city’s tax service.
It gave a “warm reminder” to declare any holdings in offshore trusts.
The campaign had been presented as focused on the super-rich, so the contacts have raised questions about how widely officials are checking.
The account does not say what happened after the text or whether any journalists were found to owe tax.
Chinese tax officials have contacted South China Morning Post journalists about holdings in offshore trusts.
The contacts come amid a campaign against tax avoidance, including efforts to tax income held in offshore trusts by wealthy families.
A journalist in the newspaper’s Beijing bureau received a text from the city’s tax service.
The message urged the recipient to declare any offshore-trust holdings.
- Who
- Chinese tax officials contacted South China Morning Post journalists.
- What
- Officials asked about offshore-trust holdings and urged one journalist to declare any such holdings.
- When
- The newspaper reported the contacts on 11 October 2026, saying they had occurred in recent weeks.
- Where
- Mainland China; a journalist in the newspaper’s Beijing bureau received a text from the city’s tax service.
- Why
- The contacts come amid China’s clampdown on tax avoidance, including efforts to tax income held in offshore trusts.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
warm reminder
The South China Morning Post covered China’s clampdown on tax avoidance and its push to tax income held in offshore trusts.
Officials began showing interest in the incomes of some South China Morning Post journalists.
A journalist in the Beijing bureau received a text urging them to declare any offshore-trust holdings.
- Date reported
- 11 October 2026
- Recipient
- Journalist in the South China Morning Post’s Beijing bureau
- Sender
- Beijing city tax service
- Subject of text
- Holdings in offshore trusts
- Campaign
- China’s clampdown on tax avoidance




