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The US House Ways & Means (W&M) Committee on 21 May announced that, in conjunction with the formation of Republican Tax Teams, the Committee has launched a new public comment portal. According to W&M Republicans, the purpose of the portal is to give stakeholders and members of the public the ability to share information on the impact of higher taxes on families, businesses and communities resulting from the expiration of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions at the end of 2025. Comments will be accepted through 15 October 2024.

W&M Republicans in late April announced the formation of 10 tax teams, at least two of which are directly related to the international tax area: Supply Chains and Global Competitiveness.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also this week was quoted as saying the US opposes an annual global wealth tax imposed on billionaires. A recently floated proposal for a 2% annual tax has received the support of some G20 Finance Ministers. President Biden has proposed a 25% tax on total income, including unrealized capital gains, for taxpayers with wealth exceeding $100m.

The IRS on 22 May extended the transition relief for dividend equivalent transactions under IRC Section 871(m). More specifically, Notice 2024-44 extends by two years the phased-in application of the IRC Section 871(m) regulations as they apply to delta-one and non-delta-one derivative transactions and the simplified standards for withholding agents to determine whether transactions are combined transactions. The Notice also extends until 2027 the implementation of the net delta exposure method for determining withholding liability of qualified derivatives dealers.

In addition, on 22 May, the IRS issued Notice 2024-43 announcing that Treasury and the IRS intend to amend the regulations under IRC Sections 59A and 6038A to defer the applicability date of certain provisions of the regulations relating to the reporting of qualified derivative payments (QDP) until tax years beginning on or after 1 January 2027. In 2022, Notice 2022-30 announced an extension of the transition period through tax years beginning on or after 1 January 2025, while Treasury and the IRS study the interaction of the QDP exception with a number of other provisions and reporting requirements. Notice 2024-43 explains that Treasury and the IRS are continuing to study the issues and have determined that it is appropriate to further extend the transition period.

Final crypto reporting regulations under IRC Section 6045 are expected to be issued later this year, according to an IRS official this week. The final rules reportedly will provide further clarification, including in regard to transfer statements.

Treasury and the IRS published proposed regulations on digital asset reporting (REG-1122793-19) in August 2023 to implement changes to IRC Section 6045 made by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021. The package adopted many of the longstanding concepts and terms that apply to sales of securities, including the reporting of a customer's tax basis and gross proceeds from a sale; it also redefined key terms and introduced new standards that apply uniquely to digital assets.

The OECD Inclusive Framework on BEPS still plans to open the Pillar One multilateral convention (MLC) for signature in June, according to Manal Corwin, the director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. Speaking at a conference in Washington, D.C. on 17 May, Corwin said that although some technical issues remain outstanding, "there has been significant progress on closing the gaps on those issues." Underscoring the progress, Corwin added that the co-chairs of the Inclusive Framework steering group have forwarded proposed text changes to the OECD Task Force on the Digital Economy for comment.

Work is also continuing to finalize Pillar One Amount B provisions, she said. Amount B is intended to simplify and streamline the application of the arm's-length principle to baseline marketing and distribution activities, with a particular focus on the needs of low-capacity countries (Amount B approach). The OECD published the final report on Pillar One Amount B on 19 February 2024.

Treasury officials have said the US has four conditions that must be met before it can sign on to the Pillar One MLC, including that the "Amount B approach" be "robust and mandatory." The OECD official this week said, "It is really, really critical to be able to reach agreement on the parameters of amount B" that is acceptable to both governments and businesses.