That “try a little harder” attitude makes a] I the difference. Tax havens like Switzerland and Monaco have always been with us. But “TCI,” as this pleasant hideaway is known? Though few Americans could even find it on a map (try just southeast of the Bahamas), it could be in your future. Maybe you’ve got some funny money floating around. Perhaps you count among the lucky 3,135,000 people worldwide reckoned by Citibank to have disposable assets exceeding $800,000, If so, Christopher Coriat would love to greet you in his sleek new offices, just down the road from Club Med on Providenciales Island. “Every American of a certain worth,” says the British lawyer judiciously, “should have offshore arrangements.”
Yes, please, absolutely. TCI’s willingness to do its financial all on your behalf has made it one of the hottest “tax advantaged” spots around. No one knows precisely how much money moves through the place. That’s because the name of the game is (dare we say it?) tax avoidance. Tax-proof “shell” companies-oops, “international business corporations”-can be registered in a day. Then there’s the new boom in personalized and very private trusts. “Helpful in the event of a marriage breakdown, business misfortune, legal suit, etc.,” as one tourist brochure cheerfully puts it.
Ahh, yes. The carefree Caicos. Sun, sand and a flexible sense of what to tell the IRS. “Morality about taxation is not ordinarily part of this business,” observes one upstanding member of the local bar. And indeed, a heavy set American drumming his fingers on a patio table at the lovely old Turk’s Head Inn definitely does not want to talk with a reporter about what brings him to the islands. “You can say this,” says the lawyer, smiling knowingly over his beer. “He’s not here to look at coral.”
