Liz Ritchie
Head of Tax, Forvis Mazars UK
Catherine Hall
International Tax Partner, Forvis Mazars UK
UK businesses are entering a period where tax strategy and data readiness are becoming inseparable.
Forvis Mazars’ UK C-suite barometer 2026 shows that UK businesses are pushing ahead internationally despite a volatile global landscape.
Of those surveyed, 60% have added new target countries to their expansion plans, yet one of their biggest barriers is managing compliance with local laws, regulations and taxes. This shift is placing tax compliance at the heart of strategic decision-making, with a growing need to interpret complex rules across multiple jurisdictions to support confident international growth.
The report also highlights that businesses expanding into markets such as the US, France and Canada are investing in high-quality, consistent data to strengthen reporting, understand tax exposure and support global mobility.
Organisations that can access accurate information quickly are best placed to navigate global uncertainty and seize new opportunities.
How UK businesses are reassessing expansion plans in a volatile world
Despite a more cautious climate for international expansion, UK firms remain ambitious and continue to look for opportunities to grow in new markets.
There’s no denying we live in an uncertain and volatile world, so it’s no wonder UK firms with international expansion plans are reassessing their strategies.
However, that’s only half the story. According to professional services firm Forvis Mazars, because while UK businesses are revising their approach to overseas growth, they’re not scaling back. In fact, 51% are adding extra target countries for expansion.
The findings, published in Forvis Mazars’ UK C-suite barometer 2026, revealed that 32% cited “national or international political tension/instability” as one of their biggest challenges in setting up operations in new countries. Yet the top expansion challenge remains managing compliance with local laws, regulatory requirements and taxes.
US remains the biggest target for UK businesses expansion
“Large groups were already reassessing their global compliance and reporting capabilities following the introduction of the OECD’s global minimum Pillar Two tax rules,” explains Catherine Hall, International Tax Partner at Forvis Mazars in the UK.
“That is overlaid with ongoing changes to the definition of what constitutes a permanent establishment, for example, when corporate tax liabilities are triggered in a country. Now geopolitical uncertainties have added an extra layer of complexity.”
One of these geopolitical uncertainties is the unpredictable nature of the US tariff landscape, with firms acknowledging “costs and/or operational issues due to trade and tariff changes” as a challenge to international expansion.
Still, the US remains the biggest expansion target among UK businesses.
Hall thinks this is partly because, in a post-Brexit world, businesses are seeking opportunities in non-EU countries. They also see tariffs as just one more complication in an already difficult-to-negotiate US landscape of federal, state and local taxes; plus they recognise the wider benefits of locating to the US.
“It presents a huge market of opportunity,” she says. “And from a cultural and a language perspective, UK businesses in particular find it to be an easier point of entry.”
New countries feature in expansion plans
The Forvis Mazars barometer also reveals that UK businesses have a broad range of new countries in their expansion sights: most notably France, Canada, Germany, Australia and China.
“Asia Pacific has always been an area of interest, but generally, it’s been a harder for UK businesses to break into,” says Hall. “China, like the US, has huge market potential, which is why it’s still thought of as a desirable location for business expansion. And, of course, it provides access to the wider Asia Pacific region.”
In France and Germany, we’ve seen economic shifts that might break up some domestic markets in those locations and, where there’s change, there’s always opportunity, and UK businesses have been pretty quick to respond and adapt.
it presents a huge market of opportunity
Hall believes this flexibility can be partly explained by Brexit. “In some ways, it’s made businesses more cautious, because they know that adapting to change can be an additional burden, particularly for a growing business,” she says. “It takes a lot of time and resources, and it adds complexity to their operations. On the other hand, because they’ve already been through Brexit, they may have improved internal processes that help them deal with changes in other jurisdictions.”
If you’re a UK company looking to expand internationally, assess the changing landscape and filing requirements of any new jurisdiction and have a three- to five-year business strategy in place.
“At the root, clients should focus on having good quality data in a standard format, then ensure they have the people, processes and technology in place for filing. Getting that ‘front end’ sorted first will make it easier to manage reporting changes in new markets.”
[1] Forvis Mazars (2026), Adapting in uncertainty — C-suite barometer outlook 2026. https://bit.ly/4e5xcAC
