Global Digital Economy Work Partly a Product of U.S. Tax Overhaul

The 2017 tax overhaul “set the stage” for U.S. participation in the OECD’s work to adapt global tax rules to the digitalization of the economy, a Treasury official said.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a blueprint May 31 outlining plans for pursuing a global minimum tax and new rules for allocating multinational companies’ profits among countries—giving more taxing rights to market jurisdictions, where a company’s users or consumers are located.

The ultimate solution must find consensus among 129 jurisdictions, including the U.S.—which, before the 2017 legislation, hadn’t wanted to participate in a discussion about changing the ...