Why are mainland China’s tax officials suddenly so interested in my Hong Kong MPF?
Por Frank Chen — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Economy China Economy Why are mainland China’s tax officials suddenly so interested in my Hong Kong MPF?
China’s push to tax offshore trusts is supposed to target the super-rich. So why are mainland officials asking me about my Hong Kong MPF?
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Frank Chen in Shanghai Published: 5:00pm, 11 Oct 2026 For the past few months, this newspaper has extensively covered China’s ongoing clampdown on tax avoidance , especially its push to tax the income of super-rich families held in offshore trusts.
We never expected to become targets of the campaign ourselves.
But there have been signs in recent weeks that officials are starting to take an interest even in the incomes of South China Morning Post journalists, with several of us being contacted by the tax man.
First, a colleague with our Beijing bureau received a text message from the city’s tax service, issuing a “warm reminder” to declare any holdings in “offshore trusts”.
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