The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation has posted profiles of 17 of the 36 jurisdictions around the world that have either adopted or used International Sustainability Standards Board disclosures or are in the process of finalizing steps to introduce the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards in their regulatory frameworks.

The jurisdictional profiles include information about each jurisdiction’s stated target for alignment with ISSB standards and the current status of its sustainability-related disclosure requirements. 

“Why is the IFRS Foundation publishing these jurisdictional profiles, which set out by country or jurisdiction their approach to sustainability reporting. It’s really because we see this as part of our commitment to provide transparency to the market,” said ISSB vice chair Sue Lloyd during a press briefing. “It’s all very well talking about the use of our standards, but we know that different jurisdictions have made different decisions. They’re adopting the standards at a different pace, and by providing these profiles, we want to provide clarity, particularly for investors who are going to be relying on understanding the comparability of information between jurisdictions, to alert them to the similarities and differences in approach and to describe the extent to which we are achieving the global comparability that we have been working toward with the ISSB standards.”

She noted that the ISSB’s sister board, the International Accounting Standards Board, has also been publishing profiles on how different countries are complying with IFRS. In this case, it’s about sustainability reporting.

The profiles are accompanied by 16 snapshots that provide a high-level overview of other jurisdictions’ regulatory approaches that are still subject to finalization. Of the 17 jurisdictions profiled, 14 have set a target of “fully adopting” ISSB standards, two have set a target of ‘adopting the climate requirements’ of ISSB standards, and one targets “partially incorporating” ISSB Standards. The profiled jurisdictions cover Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Hong Kong, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Tanzania, Türkiye and Zambia.  

Accounting Today asked Lloyd about the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate reporting rule is on hold amid a spate of lawsuits and Trump administration policy on environmental issues.

“What we are seeing continue to be the case in the U.S. is very strong investor interest in sustainability information, including from the use of the ISSB standards,” Lloyd said. “We also have interest from companies who can choose to provide the information using our standards. Of course, many companies in the U.S. in the past have chosen to use the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standards voluntarily, so that sort of voluntary adoption momentum is something we still see from the company and the investor side.”

“I think it’s also important to remember that the SEC just recently reconfirmed that if information on things like climate is material, there’s already a requirement to provide material information in accordance with existing requirements in place,” she continued. “And the last thing I’d note on the U.S. front is that while the SEC has indeed moved away from their proposed rule, we do see action at a state level, including, for example, in California, where the CARB [California Air Resources Board] is looking at climate disclosures, including the potential to allow the use of the ISSB standards to meet those requirements, so we see progress, but in different ways perhaps.”

The ISSB inherited the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standards as part of a consolidation in 2022. Besides California, a number of U.S. states are considering requiring climate-related reporting, including New York. Both the California law and a bill in New York address disclosure of climate risks and directly refer to ISSB standards. Other states, including Illinois, New Jersey and Colorado, are also considering climate reporting, and some reporting is also required under a Minnesota law. 

Of the 16 jurisdictional snapshots published by the IFRS Foundation, 12 propose or have published standards (or requirements) that are fully aligned with ISSB standards (such as Canada) or are designed to deliver outcomes functionally aligned with those resulting from the application of ISSB standards (such as Japan). Three propose standards (or requirements) that incorporate a significant portion of disclosures required by ISSB standards, and one is considering allowing the use of ISSB standards. For these jurisdictions, their target approach to adoption is yet to be finalized. Once jurisdictions have finalized their decisions on adoption or other use of ISSB standards, the IFRS Foundation plans to publish a profile for these jurisdictions.   

“The ISSB standards are bringing clarity to investors on the risks and opportunities lying in value chains across time horizons in a rapidly changing world,” said ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber in a statement Thursday. “A year ago, we committed to publishing detailed jurisdictional profiles describing adoption of our standards to complement our Inaugural Jurisdictional Guide. The profiles provide a detailed current state-of-play to investors, banks, and insurers who continue to struggle with the lack of appropriate, comparable and reliable information on these critical factors affecting business prospects. We have seen new jurisdictions joining the initial cohort of ISSB adopters every month, with a total of 36 today.” 

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are giving cryptocurrency brokers additional time to comply with requirements to report on digital asset sales and withhold taxes.

In Notice 2025-33, they extended and modified the transition relief provided last year in Notice 2024-56 for brokers who are required to file Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions to report certain digital asset sale and exchange transactions by customers.

In 2024, Treasury and IRS announced final regulations requiring brokers to report digital asset sale and exchange transactions on Form 1099-DA, furnish payee statements, and backup withhold on certain transactions starting Jan. 1, 2025. The IRS also announced in Notice 2024-56 transition relief from penalties related to information reporting and backup withholding tax liability required by these final regulations for transactions effected during 2025. Notice 2024-56 also provided limited transition relief from backup withholding tax liability for transactions effected in 2026.

The IRS said it has received and carefully considered comments from the public about the transition relief provided in Notice 2024-56 indicating that brokers needed more time to comply with the reporting requirements; today’s notice addresses those comments.

In the new Notice 2025-33, the Treasury and the IRS extended the transition relief from backup withholding tax liability and associated penalties for any broker that fails to withhold and pay the backup withholding tax for any digital asset sale or exchange transaction effected during calendar year 2026.

The Trump administration has been notably more supportive of the crypto industry since taking office, relaxing guidance at the Securities and Exchange Commission as well.

The notice also extends the limited transition relief from backup withholding tax liability for an extra year. That means brokers won’t be required to backup withhold for any digital asset sale or exchange transactions effected in 2027 for a customer (payee), if the broker submits that payee’s name and tax identification number to the IRS’s TIN Matching Program and receives a response that the name and TIN combination matches IRS records. They’re also granting relief to brokers that fail to withhold and pay the full backup withholding tax due, if the failure is due to a decrease in the value of withheld digital assets in a sale of digital assets in return for different digital assets in 2027, and the broker immediately liquidates the withheld digital assets for cash.

This notice also includes more transition relief for brokers for sales of digital assets effected during calendar year 2027 for certain customers that haven’t been previously classified by the broker as U.S. persons. 

The Senate confirmed Billy Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri, as the new Internal Revenue Service commissioner after a series of acting commissioners have cycled through the role amid staffing and budget cuts at the agency.

Long was confirmed Thursday by a vote of 53-44 to lead the IRS. Long had once sponsored legislation to abolish the IRS while he served in Congress. Last month, he went through a contentious confirmation hearing in which Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee questioned him about his promotion of dubious Employee Retention Credits and so-called “tribal tax credits” after leaving Congress, where he served from 2011 to 2023. 

Ahead of the Senate vote Thursday, Senate Finance Committee rankling member Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, blasted Long’s record. “Fake tax credits,” he said. “Scam tax advice. Shadowy political donations that went straight in his pocket. Promises of personal favors. No-show jobs with high-paying federal salaries. That’s quite a rap-sheet.” On Wednesday, Wyden’s staff also accused Long of being involved in a bribery scheme involving a health care company in his former congressional district.

President Trump announced in December he planned to name Long as the next IRS commissioner, even though then-commissioner Danny Werfel’s term wasn’t scheduled to end until November 2027. Since then, the role has been filled by four acting commissioners who have faced pressures to accept drastic staff cuts at the agency and share taxpayer data with immigration authorities.

Despite the objections from Democrats, Long received support from Republicans in the Senate as well as the House. “I would like to extend my congratulations to my good friend, fellow Missourian, and former colleague, Billy Long, on his confirmation as IRS commissioner,” said House Ways and Means committee chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri. “Commissioner Long has always been a fighter for the American people, and during his time in public service, he saw firsthand the widespread failures and corruption that have plagued the IRS. I am confident Commissioner Long will bring his Missouri ‘Show Me State’ attitude to the agency—demanding results, transparency and accountability from day one.”

One of Long’s tasks will be overseeing implementation of the massive tax legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill that was passed by the House last month and is now in the hands of the Senate.