China’s New Trust Tax Rules: What’s Happening Now?

China’s new offshore-trust tax regime is no longer just a published set of rules. Implementation is now underway — and the 90-day historical compliance window is approaching its end.

On 24 July 2026, the Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration issued Announcement No. 21 of 2026, alongside State Taxation Administration Announcement No. 15, establishing detailed individual income-tax rules and administrative procedures for offshore trusts. The rules cover the contribution of assets, income generated during the trust’s existence, distributions, termination and certain changes in tax-residency status.

1. The 90-day window is the immediate issue

For specified historical liabilities, the rules provide a 90-day period from the effective date of Announcement No. 21 during which taxpayers can declare and pay outstanding tax without late-payment interest.

This applies, among other things, to certain tax arising from assets placed into offshore trusts between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025, as well as certain historical trust income arising before 2026. The rules also state that where the unpaid amount is substantial, the tax authorities may have grounds under the Tax Collection Administration Law to extend the recovery period.

The commonly cited practical deadline is 21 October 2026, although there is a technical question over whether the first day is included when calculating the 90 days. Some professional analyses therefore identify 22 October under an alternative calculation. For compliance planning, treating 21 October as the internal deadline is the more conservative approach.

The important point is that this is not a 90-day tax holiday.

The underlying tax remains payable. The window mainly provides transitional treatment, including relief from late-payment interest.

2. The rules are detailed — but implementation questions remain

The legislation establishes the framework, but practitioners have identified practical questions that require careful implementation.

These include:

• how historical trust records should be reconstructed;
• how original asset values should be established;
• how historical income should be classified;
• how foreign taxes should be credited;
• how trustees and taxpayers should produce supporting financial information;
• and how different historical transactions should be reflected in the required reporting forms.

The STA's 17 September 2026 administrative announcement has already provided additional detail, including the competent tax authority, filing procedures and documentation requirements. Resident individuals generally file historical and ongoing trust-related income through the prescribed individual annual filing process and must provide trust financial statements, operating income and distribution information.

So the picture is not “the rules are unclear.”

It is more accurate to say:

The legal framework is now in place, while some of the practical implementation questions are still being worked through.

3. Older trusts cannot simply be ignored

One of the biggest misconceptions is that the new rules only affect trusts established after 2026.

They do not.

For trusts established before 1 January 2026, historical trust income can still fall within the transitional reporting and payment framework. At the same time, the rules contain specific treatment for trusts established more than three years before the announcement in relation to the original contribution tax.

That makes the historical records particularly important.

A trustee or family office may need to reconstruct:

what went into the trust → when it went in → its original val