An Anatomy of Tax Havens - Europe, the Caribbean and the United States of America

Tax havens in offshore lands like Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas were once considered a rarity, the preserve of the super-rich. Today, they are big business available to the masses. Their goal? To avoid any form of accountability. Own nothing. Possess everything. Be answerable to no one. Where are these tax havens? What forms can they take? What future lies in store for them, and why should we care?

An Anatomy of Tax Havens: Europe, the Caribbean and the United States of America answers these questions, and more, in the first comparative study in one volume of European, Caribbean and United States tax havens.

It examines their simple origin to the extreme forms some take today, delving into the murky subculture that has deliberately made them impenetrably obscure. Uniquely, it combines detailed technical expertise (regulatory regimes, financial crime, legal and equitable structuring) with an analysis of their impact on domestic and global political, economic, environmental and social concerns.

An Anatomy of Tax Havens is a fascinating, informative read for a broad readership; from legal, accountancy and tax practitioners to compliance regulators, law enforcement agencies, and students and researchers interested in business studies, taxation, and crime.


Paul Beckett has been widely published and is an acknowledged expert in the field of offshore financial centres and tax havens. He draws on over forty years' experience both onshore and offshore as a lawyer, within the international private banking and fiduciary services industries and in commercial legal practice. Living and working in the Isle of Man, he practises as an English Solicitor and as an Isle of Man Advocate. He is one of the first two hundred people worldwide to have become (in 1991) a member of the international wealth management Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). He sits judicially as Chairman of the Isle of Man Financial Services Tribunal. He serves as Ombudsman to the Isle of Man parliament, Tynwald.

His academic work extends over five decades. He graduated from Worcester College, Oxford University in 1978 with First Class honours in Jurisprudence, being awarded his Master of Arts in 1982. He is also a member of New College, Oxford University and completed a Master of Studies in International Human Rights Law in 2014. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Law and Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes University.