European Union member states December 12 reached agreement to implement at the EU level the Pillar Two minimum tax component of the OECD's reform of international taxation, according to a European Council news release.

The news release said the ambassadors of EU member states decided to advise the Council to adopt the Pillar Two directive, and a written procedure for the formal adoption will be launched. The Committee of Permanent Representatives reached the required unanimous support today, it said.

"I am very pleased to announce that we agreed to adopt the directive on the Pillar 2 proposal today. Our message is clear: The largest groups of corporations, multinational or domestic, will need to pay a corporate tax that cannot be lower than 15%, globally," Zbynek Stanjura, Minister for Finance of Czechia said.

The directive has to be transposed into member states' national law by the end of 2023, according to the news release.

A tweet from the EU leadership suggested that the minimum tax directive was approved in conjunction with a financial support package for Ukraine, a recovery and resilience plan for Hungary, and an agreement on conditionality.

Materials related to the announcement are available here.

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