China Intensifies Tax Crackdown on Vast Wealth Stashed Overseas

China is intensifying efforts to tax its citizens’ mountain of undisclosed overseas assets as authorities attempt to plug a widening budget deficit.

But even in Beijing’s tightly controlled society, the crackdown is proving spotty. While local authorities can to some degree pinpoint who has cash stashed abroad, they are largely in the dark about the amount.

The dragnet has involved the use of “big data” by local authorities from Beijing to Shenzhen to track down scofflaws. They’re demanding a broadening part of the population to self declare any offshore income from 2022 to 2024. It has spurred a flood of ...