Asia-Pacific.
Cross-border wills, estates, and inheritance tax memoranda — East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Oceania.
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About this region.
Asia-Pacific contains the highest concentration of cross-border estate-planning complexity in the world. The region combines civil-law inheritance systems with strong forced heirship (Korea’s 유류분, Japan’s iryūbun), territorial-tax common-law jurisdictions (Hong Kong, Singapore), Sharia-influenced personal law in some contexts, and Australia’s distinctive resident-based capital-gains regime at death.
Korea and Japan impose some of the world’s highest inheritance-tax rates — up to 50% and 55% respectively. Singapore and Hong Kong have abolished estate duty entirely. India has no inheritance tax but applies capital gains on inherited foreign assets and complex remittance rules under FEMA. None of these jurisdictions has an estate-tax treaty with Canada — making structural pre-planning essential for binational families.
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Jurisdictions covered.
Korea
Civil lawCivil-law forced heirship (유류분); 상속세 up to 50%; deemed gift on cross-border transfers; no Canada–Korea estate treaty.
Japan
Civil lawCivil-law iryūbun forced heirship; sōzokuzei up to 55%; worldwide-asset taxation for residents.
China
Civil lawNo inheritance tax currently, but proposed; complex foreign-exchange controls; Hong Kong/Macau distinct.
Hong Kong
Common lawNo estate duty since 2006; territorial profits tax; common-law trust law; CRS reporting.
Singapore
Common lawNo estate duty since 2008; territorial taxation; trust-friendly; SRS and supplementary planning.
Philippines
MixedEstate tax 6% under TRAIN Law; legítima under the Civil Code; OFW remittance issues.
India
Common lawNo inheritance tax; capital gains on inherited assets; FEMA and LRS for foreign asset succession.
Australia
Common lawNo inheritance tax; CGT events at death (E1, E2); main-residence exemption; superannuation death benefits.
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Recurring themes across the region.
- High inheritance-tax rates in Korea and Japan requiring valuation, freeze, and lifetime-gift strategies.
- Forced heirship under civil-law codes — 유류분 in Korea, iryūbun in Japan, legítima in the Philippines.
- Territorial-tax common-law jurisdictions (Hong Kong, Singapore) interacting with worldwide-tax home jurisdictions.
- The absence of Canada–Korea, Canada–Japan, and most other estate-tax treaties — relief depends on foreign-tax-credit structure.
- Foreign-exchange controls (China, India) constraining outbound estate transfers.
- Australia’s CGT-at-death model and its interaction with Canada’s deemed-disposition regime.
- OFW (Philippines) and NRI (India) cross-border succession planning.
- Hong Kong’s increasing alignment with mainland China and the consequences for trust and succession structures.