OECD releases update of Pillar Two Administrative Guidance on the Central Record of Legislation with Transitional Qualified Status

22 August 2025

On 18 August 2025, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released an update to the Administrative Guidance on the Central Record of Legislation with Transitional Qualified Status (Central Record AG).
The document provides key information on the qualified status of jurisdictions' Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) legislation and jurisdictions' Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (DMTT) legislation.
Companies should review the document and monitor further updates with a focus on the jurisdictions that are relevant to their businesses.

Executive summary

On 18 August 2025, the OECD released an update to the Administrative Guidance on the Central Record of Legislation with Transitional Qualified Status.

The August 2025 update of the Central Record AG adds the legislation of 13 new jurisdictions to the list of Qualified IIRs and 13 new jurisdictions to the list of Qualified DMTTs (QDMTTs) and QDMTT Safe Harbour. It also identifies jurisdictions in which IIRs and DMTTs are elective for 2024.

Recognition of qualified status is important for determining the order in which global minimum tax rules apply. For example. In the case of a jurisdiction that has QDMTT Safe Harbour status, the application of the Global anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) rules of other jurisdictions is prevented by deeming the Top-up Tax payable in other countries under their GloBE rules to be zero.

Detailed discussion

Background

In October 2021, the OECD released a statement reflecting the high-level agreement of Inclusive Framework member jurisdictions on core design elements of Pillars One and Two of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) 2.0 project.¹

Since the October 2021 agreement was reached, the Inclusive Framework has released a series of significant agreed documents on the Global Minimum Tax under Pillar Two, including GloBE Model Rules,² Commentary to the GloBE Model Rules,³ guidance on GloBE Safe Harbours,⁴ five packages of GloBE Administrative Guidance⁵ and a standard template for the GloBE Information Return.⁶ On 25 April 2024, the OECD released the first Consolidated Commentary to the GloBE Model Rules, which incorporates the three tranches of Administrative Guidance that were issued before the end of 2023. In addition, on 17 June 2024, the Inclusive Framework released a Question & Answer document providing information regarding the peer review process for determining the qualified status of the elements of the Global Minimum Tax that are implemented by jurisdictions.⁷ On 9 May 2025, the OECD released the updated Consolidated Commentary incorporating all the tranches of Administrative Guidance that were issued by the end of March 2025.

On 15 January 2025, the OECD released additional technical documents on the operation of the GloBE Model Rules, including new Administrative Guidance on a Central Record of Legislation with Transitional Qualified Status, listing the jurisdictions with legislation that had completed the transitional qualification mechanism process for the IIR, the Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (DMTT) or the QDMTT Safe Harbour, together with explanatory information.⁸ On 31 March 2025, the OECD updated the list of jurisdictions with transitional qualified status to include Guernsey and Spain.

August 2025 update of the Central Record AG

The August 2025 update of the Central Record AG added the legislation of the following jurisdictions on the list of Qualified IIRs:

As of 1 January 2024, North Macedonia, Poland (elective IIR in 2024), Portugal and South Africa
As of 1 January 2025, Gibraltar, Indonesia, Isle of Man, Jersey, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand

In addition, the Central Record AG now indicates if an IIR is elective for 2024, which is the case if the legislation of a jurisdiction includes a provision that allows a Multinational Enterprise (MNE) Group to elect whether its Constituent Entities located in the IIR jurisdiction are subject to the IIR. Such an IIR can be recognized as qualified under certain circumstances, including that the IIR is not elective in any other year.

The Central Record AG also indicates whether a DMTT is elective for 2024. This is the case when the legislation of a jurisdiction allows an MNE Group to elect whether its Constituent Entities (or members of Joint Venture Groups) are subject to the DMTT. A DMTT that is elective for 2024 can be recognized as qualified under certain circumstances, including that the DMTT will not be elective in any other year. In addition, an MNE Group cannot claim the QDMTT Safe Harbour if it is not subject to the elective DMTT.

The August 2025 update of the Central Record AG added the legislation of the following jurisdictions on the list of Qualified DMTTs and the QDMTT Safe Harbour:

As of 1 January 2024: Gibraltar, North Macedonia, Poland (elective IIR in 2024), Portugal and South Africa
As of 1 January 2025: Brazil, Indonesia, Isle of Man, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and United Arab Emirates
As of 1 April 2026: Japan

In the August 2025 update, the notations regarding Australia's self-certification being based on draft legislation are stricken.

The Central Record AG includes a statement that the Central Record will be updated on a regular basis. In addition, it indicates that the fact that a particular jurisdiction's legislation is not included in this Central Record does not necessarily mean that the legislation is not qualified; rather, it means only that the transitional qualification mechanism process has not yet been initiated or completed by the jurisdiction.

Implications

The Central Record AG provides key information for determining the order in which the various elements of the Global Minimum Tax rules apply and the countries in which MNE Groups will have to report their Global Minimum Tax liability. Companies should review the Central Record's treatment of the legislation of jurisdictions relevant to their businesses and evaluate the implications for their Global Minimum Tax calculations. They also should continue to monitor future updates to the Central Record.

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Endnotes

¹ See EY Global Tax Alert, OECD releases statement updating July conceptual agreement on BEPS 2.0 project, dated 11 October 2021.

² See EY Global Tax Alert, OECD releases Model Rules on the Pillar Two Global Minimum Tax: Detailed review, dated 22 December 2021.

³ See EY Global Tax Alert, OECD releases Commentary and illustrative examples on Pillar Two Model Rules, dated 21 March 2022.

⁴ See EY Global Tax Alert, OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases document on safe harbors and penalty relief under Pillar Two GloBE rules, dated 21 December 2022.

⁵ See EY Global Tax Alerts, OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases Administrative Guidance under Pillar Two GloBE Rules: Detailed Review, dated 9 February 2023; OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases additional Administrative Guidance on Pillar Two GloBE Rules: Detailed review, dated 21 July 2023; OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases additional Administrative Guidance on Pillar Two GloBE Rules and update on Pillar One Amount A timeline, dated 22 December 2023; OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases fourth tranche of Administrative Guidance on Pillar Two GloBE Rules, dated 28 June 2024; and OECD releases new documents on GloBE rules and on qualified jurisdiction status, dated 17 January 2025.

⁶ See EY Global Tax Alert, OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases document on Pillar Two GloBE Information Return, dated 24 July 2023 and OECD releases new documents on GloBE Information Return, dated 21 January 2025.

⁷ See EY Global Tax Alert, OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework releases documents on Pillar One Amount B and Pillar Two, dated 20 June 2024.

⁸ See EY Global Tax Alert, OECD releases new documents on GloBE rules and on qualified jurisdiction status, dated 17 January 2025.

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