Hong Kong Legislative Council insurance-sector lawmaker Chen Peiliang said rumours that mainland China will impose a 20% personal income tax on offshore insurance policy returns are tied to implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and individual overseas income reporting arrangements; he said no formal policy documents or implementation details have been issued. Chen noted Chinese residents have long been required to declare and pay tax on overseas investment income and that the req

Hong Kong Legislative Council insurance-sector lawmaker Chen Peiliang said rumours that mainland China will impose a 20% personal income tax on offshore insurance policy returns are tied to implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and individual overseas income reporting arrangements; he said no formal policy documents or implementation details have been issued. Chen noted Chinese residents have long been required to declare and pay tax on overseas investment income and that the requirement covers all overseas investment returns rather than targeting insurance products. The topic flared after some mainland China regions began implementing CRS-related measures. He cited Hong Kong savings-style insurance yields of about 6–6.5% versus roughly 3% for comparable mainland products, saying Hong Kong policies would retain close to a two percentage-point net yield advantage even after tax and are therefore unlikely to see a sharp drop in mainland buyers. He added Hong Kong products remain competitive for multi-currency allocation and wealth transfer and that he does not plan to raise the matter in LegCo.