BRUSSELS - The United States secured a diplomatic victory in Europewhen European Union officials agreed to postpone their proposal for a digital levy that threatened to derail a global effort to crack down on tax havens. The delay removes another potential obstacle to the broader tax agreement,which gained momentum over theweekend after finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries formally backed a new framework. That deal,which officials hope to make final by October,would usher in a global minimum tax of at least 15 percent and allow countries to tax large, profitable companies based onwhere their goods and services are sold. If enacted, the changeswould entail the biggest overhaul of the international tax system in a century.

The European Commission is exploring options for an EU-wide solution to address tax issues faced by remote workers and their employers, including possible legislative initiatives such as a directive or recommendation.

The EU unshell directive aims to address the misuse of shell companies, but its potential future effects remain uncertain as it may create surprises when implemented, and is expected to be applicable in 2025 only for manifest cases of tax avoidance practices.

U.S. officials and delegates from various countries stress the importance of not duplicating tax reform efforts and ensuring inclusive international tax cooperation at a U.N. Economic and Social Council meeting.

The European Commission is developing new rules and proposing a Securing the Activity Framework of Enablers (SAFE) to prevent aggressive tax planning arrangements for EU taxpayers and penalize non-compliant intermediaries.

The OECD's pillar 2 global minimum tax proposal is advancing. It raises concerns for U.S. taxpayers and lawmakers about its potential impact on U.S. corporate tax revenues and the country's position in the global tax landscape. Mindy Herzfeld discusses the complexities and potential issues surrounding investment tax credits and their interaction with the pillar 2 global minimum tax rules, highlighting the potential elimination of benefits from specific tax incentives designed by Congress.

The U.K. government is consulting on a potential carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to mitigate carbon leakage, with aims to introduce embodied emissions reporting in 2025, initial CBAM implementation in 2026, and new product standards in the late 2020s.

Japan's National Diet has passed tax reform legislation incorporating an income inclusion rule in accordance with the OECD's global anti-base-erosion framework, with more than 40 countries, including Canada and Liechtenstein, making moves to implement similar rules.

The Kenyan government plans to review and potentially align its 1.5% digital services tax with the OECD's two-pillar global tax reform plan, following initial resistance to joining the agreement.