Other news in brief

On 2 February 2026, the OECD published an updated version of the Manual on Effective Mutual Agreement Procedures (MEMAP) which provides non-binding, comprehensive practical guidance to tax authorities and taxpayers on the effective conduct of the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP). The updates to MEMAP are part of ongoing efforts by the OECD to improve tax certainty. The original version of this manual was published in 2007 and a decision was made in 2024 to modernise it to reflect practical developments since its publication, incorporate the work under the BEPS Action 14 Minimum Standard and introduce more detailed, practical guidance for the day-to-day handling of MAP cases. In the introduction, the OECD emphasises the fact that the manual is designed to complement, not replace, established criteria in the OECD Model Tax Convention and Transfer Pricing Guidelines, and jurisdictions will not be subject to any review or monitoring of their adoption of the best practices and guidance within it. Despite its non-binding nature, MEMAP will still be useful as more and more jurisdictions are now engaging in MAP and the practical guidance will help jurisdictions with less MAP experience improve the effectiveness of their MAP procedures as well as providing food for thought for other jurisdictions with large MAP caseloads on how they can continue to improve, including with respect to MAP Arbitration where new guidance has been added to MEMAP. From a taxpayer point of view, it is useful to have an OECD endorsed point of reference on the standards that tax administrations should be aiming to reach and the new additions to MEMAP include templates for different types of MAP application which are intended to provide support to taxpayers in accessing MAP. The OECD are hosting a webinar to introduce the new manual on 10 February 2026.

On 20 January 2026, the OECD held an all-day meeting focussed on the tax challenges and opportunities associated with the Global Mobility of individuals, attended by Mike Lavan and Phil Roper from KPMG’s UK Tax & Legal practice. From a corporate tax perspective there was strong consensus on the need for further guidance from the OECD around: (i) permanent establishment (PE) risk involving globally mobile workers, building on the welcome recent updates to the Article 5 commentary on remote working and fixed place PE; and (ii) transfer pricing issues stemming from situations where senior group or regional roles are performed by individuals employed by a local company in a jurisdiction which is not one of the group’s main operational hubs where key assets and capital are located. There is a need for greater clarity and consistency in interpretation of the transfer pricing guidelines applicable to intra-group services and specifically pricing risk control contributions. The afternoon session focussed mainly on employment income and ways in which the current treaty rules and commentary might be simplified to offer a more consistent approach to the attribution of taxing rights between States. Suggested focus areas included:

• Establishing safe-harbour thresholds (possibly along similar lines to the provisions in some of Germany's tax treaties with neighbouring States) upon which simplified taxing provisions may be based;
• Revisiting the provisions of Article 15(2), including the economic employer concept and branch taxation;
• An associated review of Article 4, treaty residence rules and the "Centre of Vital Interests" guidance; and
• Efforts to better align cross-border tax and social security treatments.

Discussions remain at a nascent stage at present, though it is anticipated that this workstream will continue to evolve over the coming 12 months and we look forward to participating in this initiative.

On 2 February 2026, HMRC updated page CREC081700 of the Creative Industries Expenditure Credit Manual which sets out the additional information needed to provide supporting evidence for a claim. A paragraph was added stating that the breakdown of production expenditure should separate core from non-core and UK from non-UK expenditure, and also separate expenditure between different phases. It goes on to describe the level of detail required. Similar wording was also added to the manuals on Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief, Orchestra Tax Relief, Theatre Tax Relief, Video Games Development, Animation Production, Television Production and Film Production. This suggests HMRC will be looking for more information to support claims than was previously required.

Significant changes to business rates policy were announced at Autumn Budget 2025 as discussed in our earlier article. Following concerns raised about the implications of these changes, on 27 January 2026, the Government announced targeted relief for pubs and live music venues. In 2026/27, these businesses will receive a 15 percent relief on top of the retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) multipliers announced at the Autumn Budget. This relief is also on top of any support these businesses are eligible for through ‘Transitional Relief’ or the ‘Supporting Small Business relief’. Then in 2027/28 and 2028/29, business rates bills will only rise by inflation.