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End of year before EU decision on zero-10?

It seems the Crown dependencies, including the Isle of Man, will have to wait a while longer for the European Union to make a decision on the zero-10 corporate tax regime.

The European Union's Code of Conduct Group will hold its long-awaited September meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the matter.

But a report on the International Adviser website says the group's recommendations are unlikely to be considered by the Econfin Council until its next meeting in December.

The Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation monitors the 27 EU member states' tax codes, to ensure they comply with Council of Economics and Finance parameters, which were set out 13 years ago.

Although the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey aren't part of the EU, the article says compliance with such codes is considered increasingly important as scrutiny of offshore financial centres by the likes of Britain, theUnited States and Europe intensifies.

The Isle of Man was the first of the three Crown dependencies to introduce a zero-10 regime in April 2006, and it was initially examined by the Code of Conduct Group and found to be sound.

However, as tax expert Philip Dearden explained last month, the validity of zero-10 is very much open to interpretation:

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