Other news in brief

In the latest of their series of guidelines for compliance, on 9 February 2026, HMRC issued Guidelines for Compliance 17 “Help with sharing group structure information”. This new guidance is designed to assist UK businesses when sharing group structures with HMRC, for instance when requesting advance tax clearances or when providing information as part of an enquiry. Whilst the guidelines are not mandatory, they set out HMRC’s preferred approach for correspondence with them including recommended shapes and symbols for group charts.

Amount B is the OECD’s streamlined and simplified approach to applying the arm’s length principle to in-country baseline marketing and distribution activities. On 17 February 2026, the OECD released more materials to support the implementation of Amount B:

• Amount B Pricing FAQs which have been developed in response to technical questions raised by stakeholders and aim to ensure a consistent application of the Amount B simplified and streamlined approach; and
• An updated version of the Pricing Automation Tool which was first released in 2024 (this can be downloaded from the OECD website). This tool helps compute the Amount B return for in-scope distributors and the latest version updates the information required for the application of Amount B in 2026, including sovereign credit ratings data.

Welsh Land Transaction Tax (LTT) Multiple Dwellings Relief (MDR) reduces the overall tax burden when purchasing two or more residential properties in a single or linked transaction such that the total LTT liability is calculated based on the mean, rather than the total, price of the dwellings. However, there is still a minimum amount of tax that must be paid when MDR is claimed and, on 13 February 2026, regulations were published to increase that minimum rate from 1 percent of the total purchase price to 3 percent. Transitional provisions provide that the regulations do not affect land transactions effected in pursuance of a contract entered into or substantially performed before 13 February 2026, subject to certain conditions. On the same day, further regulations were published to allow a purchaser to claim a refund of Welsh LTT higher rates, in certain circumstances, if the property is then leased to a Welsh local authority; associated guidance was also published.

KPMG in the UK’s European Economic Outlook for February 2026 looks at how Europe’s adoption of AI could reshape jobs and productivity, the outlook for long and short term interest rates and how easing inflation and consumer caution may shape the wider economic trajectory.

KPMG’s Global Mobility Services (GMS) team has recently published the first instalment of See It Differently, a three-part series exploring mobility trends, challenges and innovative approaches in the field of internationally mobile employment. Part One, entitled “Shaping mobility through non-traditional paths and innovative solutions”, includes the following articles:

• EU pay transparency: The countdown is on for employers to meet major changes under the EU Directive;
• Shaping tomorrow’s global mobility function: Lessons learned from innovative ‘pathfinders’ setting the pace to create engaging experiences;
• AI-powered global mobility: Unleashing new levels of efficiency and business value; and
• Are unconventional moves becoming the convention? Mobility reaches a crossroads as businesses pursue agile new approaches.

Parts Two and Three will follow soon and will include articles on a wide variety of topics, including the cross-border taxation of directors and high complexity employees; a look at global trends and developments in tax authority audits and compliance checks; and an article which addresses whether national tax policy has distorted the competition for talent. Watch this space for further details.