China releases rules for due diligence on non-resident financial accounts

BEIJING - Chinese authorities Friday publicized detailed rules for financial institutions to conduct due diligence procedures on non-resident accounts in an effort to counter cross-border tax evasion.

Starting July 1, Chinese financial institutions will carry out due diligence on deposit accounts, escrow accounts, stock or bond right interests of institutional investors.

The information will be collected for exchange with tax authorities of other countries to detect tax evasion practices using offshore accounts.

In 2014, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) developed the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters and the standard was later endorsed by the G20.

More than 100 countries, including China, have signed up to implement the standard.