Think of account reconciliation like solving a puzzle.

You compare numbers, spot any strange differences, and make sure every figure lines up.

It might sound tedious but keeping accurate accounts isn’t just about neat books.

This helps your business stay transparent, compliant, and on solid financial footing.

Still, many businesses struggle with reconciliation because of messy record-keeping.

When accounts don’t match, problems can quickly snowball.

The good news?

It doesn’t have to be this way.

In this article, we break down the ins and outs of account reconciliation.

We also share best practices you can start using now to keep your finances in check.

Here’s what we cover:

What is account reconciliation?

Account reconciliation involves comparing two sets of financial records, such as your internal ledger and your bank statements, to make sure they match up.

If they don’t, it might be down to things like bank fees, outstanding cheques, or even errors or fraud.

By spotting and fixing differences quickly, you’ll keep your books accurate and comply with financial rules.

Most businesses perform reconciliations at the end of each accounting period.

This can be carried out by an accountant, who compares your internal records to external sources such as bank statements or supplier invoices.

This process ensures that each business transaction has been properly documented.

Your general ledger (GL) is made up of seven types of accounts:

• Assets
• Liabilities
• Equity
• Revenue
• Expenses
• Gains
• Losses.

Every transaction hits two of these accounts.

Through diligent account reconciliation, you verify that all these entries contain the right information.

The importance of account reconciliation

Account reconciliation is a fundamental part of financial management.

Spotting and fixing reporting errors early can save you stress—especially if there’s ever an audit.

Here are some other ways reconciliation helps:

Reduced missed payments

Accurate records mean you always know when payments are due and can budget accordingly.

This also ensures your financial records line up with regulatory standards, helping you avoid penalties and legal trouble.

Monitor financial health

Regular reconciliation highlights errors made by your bank or other institutions, so you can correct them and keep a clear picture of your finances.

Detect fraudulent transactions

Since you’re regularly checking where your money is going, questionable or unauthorised activity becomes easier to spot.

Control spending

Consistent account reviews help you see if your expenses are too high or if you need to cut back.

Reduced missed payments

Accurate records mean you always know when payments are due and can budget accordingly.

This also ensures your financial records line up with regulatory standards, helping you avoid penalties and legal trouble.

Account reconciliation methods

Reconciliation is crucial, but how exactly do you do it?

There are generally two main methods:

1. The documentation method

This is the most common approach.

It involves comparing your general ledger with other source documents, such as bank statements or supplier invoices.

A classic example involves comparing your own cash account balance with your monthly bank statement.

If they don’t align, you look for items like outstanding cheques or deposits that haven’t cleared yet.

Once you spot the difference, you adjust your records accordingly.

This process is known as bank reconciliation, a subtype of balance sheet reconciliation.

The same logic applies to credit card accounts: compare your internal records of spending with the credit card statement.

Any discrepancies, such as pending charges or interest fees, need to be fixed so both sets of records match.

2. The analytics method

Think of this as a ‘sense check’.

Instead of comparing records directly to an external document, you use estimates or historical data to see if your figures look reasonable.

If the numbers are far from what you’d normally expect, you dig deeper with a full reconciliation.

This method can’t replace the documentation approach but it can help you spot glaring issues more quickly.

Types of account reconciliation

Account reconciliation isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. There are various types, each suited to specific needs. Two of the most common types of account reconciliation include balance sheet reconciliation and general ledger reconciliation.

Your business might need several different types, each designed for specific areas of your finances.

Balance sheet reconciliation

Balance sheet reconciliation focuses on comparing the balances of your internal accounts (cash, investments, liabilities, equity, etc) with statements from external sources such as banks or lenders.

Essentially, anything on your balance sheet should be checked to ensure it matches the statements you receive.

General ledger reconciliation

With general ledger reconciliation, you do an internal review of your GL to make sure all entries and balances are correct.

You might reconcile who owes you money (accounts receivable) against the total amount recorded in your GL, or confirm you’ve accurately recorded what you owe suppliers (accounts payable).

This keeps your records accurate and helps you manage cash flow effectively.

Bank reconciliation

Bank reconciliation, as the name suggests, is where you compare your bank statements with the entries in your books.

It’s typically done monthly to identify any mis-entries, overlooked fees, timing lags, or errors. Doing this often also makes tax time easier because you’ll have reliable, up-to-date figures on hand.

Account receivable reconciliation

For accounts receivable, your goal is to confirm that the total amount owed by customers in your ledger matches the individual amounts you’re expecting from each of them.

This is often done using supporting documents such as invoices, sales receipts, and credit notes. If your records don’t match up, you’ll know to investigate potential errors or missing payments.

Using accounts receivable software will make this process much simpler, quicker, and more accurate. It’s become an essential tool for many businesses.

Inventory reconciliation

If you keep products in stock, it’s crucial to periodically cross-check the inventory recorded in your system with what’s physically in your warehouse.

This helps you catch issues such as damage, theft, or lost items.

Staying on top of inventory reconciliation can boost customer satisfaction, too, because you’ll know exactly what’s available for sale.

Credit card reconciliation

Like bank reconciliation, credit card reconciliation compares each credit card transaction in your ledger with the credit card statement.

It’s a great way to spot fraud, errors, or unrecorded purchases, such as a returned item that didn’t get logged.

Digital wallet reconciliation

Digital payment solutions like Apple Pay or Google Pay are on the rise, and they need to be reconciled too.

You’ll check transaction details (often accessed via apps) against your internal records.

The logic and benefits are much the same as reconciling credit cards or bank accounts.

Account payable reconciliation

Think of this as the counterpart to accounts receivable.

You’re verifying amounts owed to suppliers.

Cross-check documents such as invoices, receipts, and payment records to make sure everything tallies.

As with other reconciliations, using accounts payable software can save you a lot of time and headaches.

Multi-entity reconciliation

Large businesses often have multiple branches or companies under a single-parent organisation.

These groups sometimes do business with one another, creating inter-company transactions that need matching up.

Multi-entity reconciliation ensures consistent, compliant reporting across the whole group and helps maintain stakeholder confidence.

As you might expect, accounting software can make the process simpler, quicker, and more accurate with automation.

Account reconciliation process

Even if your accounting software automatically downloads your monthly bank transactions, you still need to keep an eye on everything.

Here’s a simple process:

1. Gather your records

Collect internal documents (such as ledgers) plus external statements (bank statements, supplier invoices, etc).

2. Compare balances

Check if your internal numbers match what’s in the external statements.

3. Spot discrepancies

Investigate any differences you find.

Common issues include timing lags (such as deposits in transit) and plain old data-entry mistakes.

4. Adjust and communicate

Make any necessary corrections in your records and let the statement provider know if the error is on their end.

Who handles this work?

In smaller companies, the owner or a manager might do the job.

Larger organisations typically have dedicated finance teams or entire departments specialising in reconciliation.

While software can automate a lot of the tasks, human oversight is still key to ensuring accuracy.

Account reconciliation best practices

To make the most of the account reconciliation process, here are some best practices to follow:

Reconcile regularly

Instead of treating account reconciliation as an ad hoc or annual task, incorporate it into your regular financial routines.

This will help catch any discrepancies early, enabling you to resolve issues promptly and maintain up-to-date records.

Leverage automation

The modern world offers a range of account reconciliation tools and technologies that can automate and streamline the process of reconciliation.

By using these tools, businesses can minimise the risk of human error, increase efficiency, and allow their finance teams to focus on strategic tasks.

Involve other teams

Account reconciliation is more than just an accounting department function. It’s integral to the company’s overall financial health and transparency.

Therefore, it’s essential to foster a broader understanding of this process and its importance within your company.

Segregation of duties

Assign different individuals to handle the recording, reconciling, and approving of financial transactions.

Ensure multiple reviews happen throughout the reconciliation process to reduce the risk of errors and fraud.

Clear reconciliation procedures

Create standardised reconciliation procedures that outline specific steps, assign roles and responsibilities, and set clear deadlines.

This structure ensures consistency, reduces errors, and keeps the reconciliation process organised and efficient.By adhering to these best practices, you can ensure your account reconciliation process is as efficient, accurate, and effective as possible, contributing to better financial management and decision-making.

Common examples of errors in account reconciliation

It’s not uncommon for businesses to make basic errors during account reconciliation.

Keep an eye out for these typical mishaps:

Mismatching vendors

Unknown vendors appearing within your internal records might be a sign of fraud.

It’s important to verify invoices to rule out any wrongdoing.

Unrecorded transactions

You may find transactions on your bank statement that aren’t in your internal records.

This is usually the result of employee error but could point to fraud.

Mismatching transactions

Some transactions will be recorded correctly but might contain the wrong dates or amounts.

This discrepancy can usually be attributed to employee or banking errors.

Deposits in transit

Certain deposits will be recorded on your records but not in your bank statement.

Often, this is because the deposit hasn’t been processed by the bank.

In some instances, though, this can indicate that a deposit has been lost.

Increase accuracy with account reconciliation software

Regular reconciliations are critical but they can be complicated and time-consuming. That’s where automation steps in.

Account reconciliation software can match transactions for you, generate statements, and spot anomalies early—meaning you can fix them before they become major issues.

Beyond accuracy, using software also shows stakeholders that you take compliance and transparency seriously, which builds trust with investors, employees, customers, and suppliers.Sage accounting solutions streamline these tasks, reduce manual data entry, and give you a clear view of your cash flow. That can boost efficiency, improve accuracy, and ultimately improve your brand’s reputation and bottom line.

Account reconciliation FAQs

PakarPBN

A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.

In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.

The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.

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Explore how an automated billing system can help you get paid faster, giving your clients and customers an easy way to check their balance and pay their bills.

An automated billing system is software designed to simplify and automate your billing and invoicing processes.

It allows your business to set up rules for automation to send outstanding bills to clients and customers at a cadence that you set.

Automating your billing can help your outstanding invoices get paid faster. It also offers your clients and customers an easy way to see their balance and pay their bills.

Here’s what we cover:

How does billing automation work?

Automated billing works by streamlining and digitising your entire billing process, reducing manual tasks and improving accuracy.

It seamlessly integrates with your company’s existing systems, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.

This means that customer information, subscription plans, and pricing structures are automatically updated, minimising the need for manual data entry.

Once implemented, automated billing systems generate invoices based on predetermined schedules you can easily set up and manage.

They pull data from contracts, sales orders, and other sources to create accurate bills.

The invoices are sent to your customers automatically, ensuring consistent and timely billing.

These systems can also handle payment processing.

By linking to various payment gateways, the software allows customers to pay using different methods, including credit cards, bank transfers, and digital wallets.

When payments are made, the system automatically matches them to the corresponding invoices, keeping your accounts accurate and up-to-date.

To further improve cash flow management, billing automation sends reminders to customers about upcoming or overdue payments.

It can also give your businesses real-time analytics and reports on payment trends, outstanding balances, and customer behaviour.

What are the key features to look for in an automated billing system?

The main feature of automated recurring billing software is that it removes the need to manually send out billing notices for outstanding invoices to your clients and customers.

Instead, you can automate the cadence of recurring invoices to be sent out, removing tedious admin time from your schedule. It even helps you get paid faster!

There are five key functionalities you should look for in a billing solution to automate accounting and reporting. These include:

1. Flexible intelligent general ledger with AI and a continuous close.
2. Public market reporting, such as forecasting, FP&A, and financial statements.
3. Foreign exchange, currency, and tax.
4. Consolidations.
5. Compliance.

What to integrate with your billing system

The invoicing and billing software you use might already include automated billing that you can customise.

It’s best to reduce the number of systems you need to integrate to drive your billing, collections, and reporting.

However, there are several add-on software services that could potentially be integrated with your current billing or accounting software as a plugin.

Learn more about the Sage Intacct native integration with Salesforce.

Explore how using automation software helps easily manage billing and revenue, forecast the future over the lifetime of your contracts, and bring all of your metrics into a single dashboard.

The advantages of billing automation systems

Time savings

One of the biggest advantages of automated billing is the time it can save your team.

Instead of manually entering payment details, tracking invoices and calculating totals, the automation software handles it all for you.

You’ll minimise time spent on repetitive tasks and can focus on other important aspects of your business, like improving products or engaging with customers.

Accuracy

When it comes to billing, even small mistakes can have big consequences.

Manual processes are prone to human error, whether it’s confusing typos, incorrect calculations, or missing details.

Automated billing drastically cuts down on errors, ensuring your invoices are accurate and professional.

The system does all the maths, checks the data, and makes sure everything is correct before sending it out.

This reduces the risk of costly mistakes that could hurt your business or damage relationships with clients.

Consistency

With automated billing, every invoice will be consistent.

You don’t have to worry about missing steps or formatting errors.

Whether you’re sending out one invoice or hundreds, the system ensures every single one follows the same process.

This consistency not only helps you stay organised but also contributes towards a reliable, professional image for your business.

Cost efficiency

An automated billing system helps you save money by reducing the need for manual labour and minimising errors.

It’ll cut the number of working hours you spend on managing invoices, lowering operational costs in the long run.

You’ll also avoid the financial hit of mistakes like overcharging or undercharging customers.

Improved cash flow

An important aspect of automated billing is that it speeds up invoicing, meaning you can get paid faster.

Automation can send invoices as soon as a service is provided or a product is shipped, cutting down on delays.

And with features like automatic payment reminders, you can reduce the risk of late payments, helping improve your overall cash flow.

Enhanced customer experience

When your billing process is smooth, consistent, and accurate, it positively impacts your customers.

Automated billing systems ensure that clients receive clear, timely, and correct invoices every time.

They can also easily pay through various channels, making the experience more convenient for them.

A seamless billing process leads to higher customer satisfaction, which can translate into repeat business and positive reviews.

Data insights

Automated billing doesn’t just send out invoices—it also collects valuable data.

These systems typically track payment trends, billing cycles, and customer behaviour, giving you insights into your business’s financial health.

This data can help you make better decisions about pricing and payment terms and even identify clients who might need follow-up.

With these insights at your fingertips you can take proactive steps to improve your business relationships and financial strategy more easily.

Scalability

As your business grows, so does the complexity of your billing.

Many automated billing systems can scale with you, handling an increasing volume of invoices without a hitch.

Whether it’s handling more customers, more complicated billing models, new products, new regions, or additional currencies, you want a system that can accommodate change seamlessly.

Scalable software will save you the headache of having to switch platforms as your business expands and evolves.

How to set up an effective automated billing system for your business

Setting up an automated billing system can be a straightforward process.

However, every business operation is different and steps to follow will depend on your business requirements.

Possibly the quickest, most effective method is investing in automated recurring billing software.

This will allow you to create rules and logic that define your invoicing process, in line with your specific business needs.

But before jumping into any software shopping, there are some important factors to consider helping you get started on the right track:

Assessing your business model and billing cycle

To find the best solution for your business, take some time to consider your business model and billing cycle.

Some businesses might need monthly invoicing, whilst others have quarterly or annual billing cycles.

If you offer one-time purchases or project-based billing, the software should support that too.

For subscription-based services, the software should easily handle recurring payments and subscription billing.

You’ll likely need to cater to fairly complex billing set-ups, with pricing models based on factors such as usage, volume, and tiers.

It’s also worth thinking about whether you need your solution to accommodate trial periods and introductory offers for new customers.

Look for flexibility in billing cycles and pricing models, ensuring the system you choose can adapt as your business grows.

Finding a system that facilitates automated operations

The whole point of billing automation is to streamline your processes and save time.

The software should automate invoice generation, payment reminders, and follow-ups based on your defined rules.

This could include triggers such as monthly billing dates or the conclusion of a specific service.

The system can then automatically send invoices to your customers via email or offer them a way to access and pay online.

You won’t have to worry about manually sending out invoices, which means fewer mistakes and faster payments.

Check if the solution you’re considering has features like recurring billing setups, payment processing, and automatic report generation.

Integrating your billing with existing systems

Your billing solution should work seamlessly with the other systems you’re already using, like your accounting software, CRM, ERP, and payment gateways.

If the software doesn’t integrate well you could face data discrepancies or extra manual work.

The idea here is to ensure that your billing system communicates seamlessly with other parts of your business to maintain a smooth workflow.

For example, integrating your CRM can automatically sync customer data, whilst linking with accounting software can help you track payments more efficiently.

In short, the software should reduce as much manual work as possible and help simplify your overall business management.

Setting up the rules, logic, and customising templates

Look for a system that makes it easy to set up and tailor the rules and logic that define your billing process – from creating recurring payment schedules to applying late fees and offering discounts based on payment timing.

You’ll also want to customise your invoice templates to match your branding.

Most automated billing software allows you to upload your company logo and adjust colours or fonts so your invoices reflect your brand identity.

Customisation ensures that all your invoices look professional and consistent.

Protecting your business with automated compliance

Billing compliance can be tricky, especially with changing tax laws and regulations.

Look for software that automatically updates to reflect any changes in tax rates or other regulations relevant to your business.

Automated compliance helps ensure you’re staying within legal guidelines without keeping track of every regulation yourself.

Offering your customers a smooth experience

Your customers will be interacting with your billing system, and ideally their experience should be smooth and hassle-free.

Look for software that makes it easy for customers to view their invoices, track payments, and make secure payments online.

The more intuitive the process is for them, the better your customer satisfaction will be and the fewer billing issues you’ll have to deal with.

Leveraging real-time data and comprehensive reporting

Data is key to making informed decisions, so choose software that offers robust reporting and analytics.

These tools can give you insights into payment trends, overdue invoices, customer payment behaviours, and more.

By analysing this data, you can forecast cash flow and identify patterns, such as customers who tend to pay late or times of the month when payments are lower.

You’ll have the information you need to identify potential issues early, optimise your billing strategy, and improve your overall cash flow management.

Boosting buy-in with user-friendly software

Last but not least, you should make sure any software you opt for is user-friendly.

If the system is too complicated or hard to navigate, it’ll take your team longer to learn it properly.

You might also find that more mistakes are made, which could cause billing issues and impact both productivity and customer satisfaction.

The simpler and more intuitive your system is, the faster you can get up and running.

Look for software with an intuitive design, clear instructions, and an easy setup process.

That said, you will likely need some help with implementation and bedding in.

So, check to make sure your solution provider offers comprehensive training and customer support.

Final thoughts on billing automation

Billing automation offers a wealth of benefits, transforming how businesses handle invoicing and payments.

By automating these processes, you can save time, reduce errors, and improve cash flow—all whilst providing a better experience for your customers.

Dynamic and flexible billing solutions can handle recurring payments and subscription billing, accommodating various complex billing set-ups.

Features like automatic invoice generation, payment reminders, and seamless integration with existing software ensure accuracy, consistency, and efficiency.

Ultimately, automated billing systems offer more than just convenience—they’re a smart investment for any business aiming to optimise operations, improve financial management, and enhance customer satisfaction.

With the right tools in place, you can look forward to faster payments, reduced administrative costs, and deeper insights into your financial performance.

PakarPBN

A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.

In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.

The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.

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Security is never far from the mind of accountants and bookkeepers, and HMRC has recently announced some interesting news: it’s adding multifactor authentication (MFA) to all agent accounts before the end of 2026.

MFA is a simple, well-established way to keep your practice and your clients’ information safer, and it’s the same kind of protection you almost certainly already rely on across plenty of other online services.

Here’s everything you need to know: the dates, the decisions, and a short checklist to get your practice ready:

What is multifactor authentication for agents?

If you already use multifactor authentication every day, feel free to skip ahead—but here’s a quick recap in case it’s handy.

Multifactor authentication, or MFA, simply adds an additional step to prove who you are when you log in.

As well as your username and password, you confirm it’s really you with a one-time access code—usually generated by an app on your phone, or sent to you by text message or voice call.

It’s the same extra layer you’ll recognise from online banking, and it’s already in place on the personal and business tax accounts that individuals and businesses use to access HMRC services, like the HMRC app.

Considering accessing agent service account (ASA) and online service account (OSA) records effectively open the door to your clients’ tax records, they’re a natural target for fraud—and the addition of MFA could be said to be overdue.

Nonetheless, adding this second step ASAP makes it much harder for anyone else to get in, keeping both your practice and your clients’ data better protected. In short: a small change at the login screen, and a big gain in security.

When is MFA being switched on and how do I get it?

This is the interesting part. MFA is arriving in three stages during 2026, and you can choose the timing that suits your practice best.

There are two early “opt-in” dates over the summer, plus a final stage where MFA is switched on automatically:

• Apply by midnight on 30 June 2026 to have MFA activated on 15 July 2026.
• Apply by midnight on 31 July 2026 to have MFA activated on 19 August 2026.
• If you don’t pick an early date, MFA will be switched on automatically between 28 September and 15 October 2026.

To choose an early date, you complete a short form that appears when you sign in to your agent services account (ASA) or online services account (OSA) from 10 June 2026.

It works best when handled centrally by whoever manages your firm’s agent accounts, so it’s worth letting colleagues know to leave the form to them.

The opt-in is based on your Government Gateway identifier.

If your firm has more than one—for example, if you’ve grown through mergers and picked up additional agent accounts along the way—you can choose which ones to activate and when, and even stagger them across the two summer dates.

Should you opt in early or wait?

Opting in early gives you certainty. You’ll know exactly when MFA is coming, so you can prepare your team and pick a date that works around your busy periods.

It also means the right person is in the driving seat. The first time anyone signs in after MFA is switched on, they’ll set up the extra step—so it makes sense for that to be the person who looks after your agent accounts, on a day you’ve planned for, rather than a quiet morning when someone else happens to log in first.

Preferring to wait for the automatic stage is completely fine too. You’ll just want to make sure everyone who uses the accounts is ready before late September, since the exact day within the final window isn’t fixed. Either way, a short window of preparation is the key to a smooth switch.

Deciding how your team will log in

You have two options here, and both work seamlessly with MFA. But care needs to be taken.

The first is individual logins for each member of staff. This is HMRC’s recommended approach and it’s especially tidy for managing access: everyone has their own credentials, and you can simply remove a person’s access when they leave.

Individual accounts are challenging in the case of OSAs, however, because individual clients need to be assigned to each account. This requirement isn’t present with ASA accounts.

Therefore, a second option might seem better as a short-term option—to keep shared logins and use an authenticator app, especially where OSA client allocation makes individual access difficult.

But there can be little doubt that firms should consider individual access the cleaner, long-term model where it is practical.

Choosing how you receive your access codes

Once MFA is on, you’ll enter a one-time access code alongside your usual Government Gateway details. You can receive that code in one of three ways: by text message, by voice call, or through an authenticator app.

HMRC recommends using an authenticator app as your main method, with at least one backup set up as well. You can have a primary method plus up to two backups.

Adding a backup is a small step that’s well worth taking, so you always have a way to sign in even if your main device isn’t to hand. But bear in mind that any MFA attached to a phone number increases risk, because it’s possible for hackers to socially engineer mobile companies into transferring phone numbers and therefore get access to the MFA codes.

A quick checklist to get your practice ready for MFA

A few minutes of preparation now is all it takes. Here’s a simple checklist to work through:

1. Check your contact details. Make sure the phone numbers and details on your accounts are current, so your access codes always reach the right place. It’s also worth checking whether an MFA option was set up on an account some time ago.
2. Confirm who’s in charge. Decide who manages your firm’s agent account access, and make sure they’re the one to complete the opt-in form.
3. List your Government Gateway identifiers. If your firm has more than one agent account, gather your identifiers in one place before you opt in.
4. Choose your login approach and code method. Decide between individual or shared logins, and pick how you’ll receive your access codes.
5. Brief your team. Let everyone know what’s changing and when, so the switch is no surprise.

Final thoughts

Multifactor authentication is a welcome, straightforward upgrade to the security around your clients’ data—and getting ready for it really is quick.

Decide whether you’d like an early date or prefer to wait, get your contact details and logins in order, and let your team know what to expect.

Do that, and switch-on day will pass without a hitch, leaving your practice better protected than ever.

Frequently asked questions

PakarPBN

A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.

In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.

The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.

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If you’re a sole trader or landlord coming into Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax this year, add this date to your diary: 7 August 2026.

That’s the deadline for your first ever quarterly update, the first of four you’re required to provide across the tax year. (The others are 7 November, 7 February, and 7 May the following year—so maybe add those to your diary, too.)

If this is the first you’re hearing of any of this, take a breath, because it’s far more manageable than it sounds. As we explain below, in most cases you can get some free software, connect your bank feed, categorise the transactions and submit. It can take as little as a few minutes.

However, this guide walks you through the entire process in a bid to take you from zero, to (hopefully) hero.

Here’s what we discuss:

What’s the bare minimum for an MTD for Income Tax quarterly update?

In summary, you’ll need the following to make a MTD for Income Tax quarterly update:

• MTD-ready software capable of making MTD for Income Tax updates. You cannot do this using the HMRC website, like you might’ve done with Self Assessment, or by post.
• Digital accounting for your business income and expenditure since the start of the tax year (e.g. 6 April to 5 July for the 7 August quarterly update). These are known as digital records.

Here’s what’s the information required for those digital records:

• Self-employment or landlord income amounts: Things like your sales, takings, fees, and rents.
• Self-employment or landlord expense amounts: Things like the cost of stock, travel costs, office supplies costs, utility and phone bills, financial costs, and cost of repairs/maintenance/service fees for properties if you’re a landlord.
• Dates: When the income was received, or expenses incurred.
• Tax categorisation for each income and expense: For example, travel expenses, advertising, interest on loans, wages paid to staff, or just the cost of goods bought for resale, or used in your business. HMRC provides a handy list.

If all this sounds overwhelming then—don’t panic!

The whole point of MTD for Income Tax is that you use software to make the update. The software makes everything easy. It’ll assist with the categorisation, for example. And you can connect to your bank to get the data you need.

We explain possibly the simplest possible way of doing all this below.

When is the earliest I can submit my MTD quarterly update?

You get just over a month after the end of a quarterly period to submit your update.

For example, for the period covering 6 April to 5 July, the first quarterly update is due on 7 August.

So, the earliest date to make your update is 6 July.

However, HMRC says you could’ve submitted your quarterly update up to 10 days before this—but only if you were sure those 10 days wouldn’t have any transactions in them. You might’ve been going on holiday, for example, and wanted to take care of the update before you leave.

So, the effective earliest date to submit an update is 10 days before the end of the update period.

Again using the first quarterly update as our example, this would’ve been be 25 June.

Here’s all that in simple terms for the first quarterly update:

• Period covered: 6 April to 5 July.
• Earliest submission date: 25 June, provided you’re sure there will be no more transactions before 6 July.
• Earliest submission date for the average taxpayer: 6 July.

A quick note: If you use 1 April as the start of the tax year (something known as a calendar year basis), it’s a bit different. The earliest you can update your quarterly update would be 20 June (because that’s 10 days before your period ends on 30 June). But your deadline remains 7 August for the quarterly update.

Do I have the right software for an MTD quarterly update?

As you might expect from the name, Making Tax Digital is about using software for your accounting.

There’s no way around this, and it’s the whole reason why HMRC created the Making Tax Digital initiative.

Alas, you can’t just use any software and be within the rules.

You need to be using software that HMRC has recognised as being MTD-ready.

We’ve covered this already on Sage Advice, so take a look at that article, but if you’ve no idea where to start then we’d suggest signing up to Sage Sole Trader. There are versions for Apple and Android mobiles.

If you want to skip ahead to see how to use Sage Sole Trader for your first quarterly update, click here.

There’s a version of Sage Sole Trader available entirely free of charge and yes, it will take you through the MTD for Income Tax requirements—including your digital tax return, due by January 2028.

Bear in mind that once you’ve made any MTD quarterly update, the data is then stored with HMRC—so you can use whatever software you like next time. You just need to make sure the digital records are imported, because updates are cumulative.

And that’s the next topic we’re going to discuss.

Do I have the right digital records for an MTD for Income Tax quarterly update?

Before you can send a quarterly update, you need somewhere to get the data from.

If you’ve had to follow the MTD for Income Tax rules as of April 2026—which is to say, your qualifying income was over £50,000 for the 2024/25 tax year—you should’ve been keeping digital records of your business and property income and expenses as of 6 April 2026 onwards.

“Digital records” sounds heavier than it is.

In practice, it means your business income and expenses live in software.

At its simplest, this could be a spreadsheet that you’ve linked to HMRC through MTD-ready bridging software.

But for most people, it means simply using MTD-ready accounting software and putting their income and expenditure into it when it happens, or as soon as possible after.

Your quarterly update is simply a summary pulled from those records, so the better your records, the easier every update becomes.

So, what if you have not been creating digital records since 6 April?

Don’t panic. You’re actually in the clear provided you get the digital records into MTD-ready software before the quarterly reporting deadline. We explain a simple way of doing this below using a bank feed.

However, a bank feed on its own isn’t really a good solution long-term.

Now is the moment to build the habits that save you a headache at year-end when your full digital tax return is due. A bank statement tells you money moved, but it doesn’t prove what for, and it won’t capture cash takings or match a payment to the right invoice. If you buy things using cash, it won’t capture that, either.

So keep your receipts and invoices, and let your software do the heavy lifting: snap a photo of a receipt using the accounting app just after you’ve made the purchase, and have the details read off automatically, or set recurring expenses to categorise themselves.

Get this right early and your records stay clean, complete and ready to submit at any point.

What should a quarterly update actually include? (And what should it not?)

This is where most of the nerves come from, so let’s clear it up.

A quarterly update is a digital summary of your income and expenses for the tax year so far, sent to HMRC through your software.

That’s it.

Here’s what a quarterly update is not:

• It’s not a tax return.
• It doesn’t include earnings from full-time employment (e.g. PAYE).
• It doesn’t include dividends, savings interest, pensions, capital allowances, capital gains or losses, reliefs, or tax adjustments and allowances. It really is just income and expenditure.
• It’s not a tax bill.
• It’s not your final, fixed word on your income and expenditure.

Each update is cumulative, meaning it’s a running total from the start of the tax year that overwrites the one before it. So if a figure isn’t quite right, you’re not stuck with it: the next update corrects it automatically, and you tidy everything up properly at year-end.

What you get back once you submit your update is the genuinely useful part, and hardly anybody ever mentions it.

After you submit, you’ll see an estimate of your tax bill for your self-employment and property income, either in your software or your HMRC online account.

That’s a running, real-time view of what you’re likely to owe, which makes it far easier to set money aside as you go and avoid a nasty surprise in January. No more setting aside a nebulous third of your income. Now you can be more precise. The cash flow benefit could be enormous.

One quick practical note: you submit a separate update for each source of income.

So if you’re a sole trader who also lets out a property, that’s two updates each time, not one combined figure. Ditto if you run, say, an online eBay store while you also run a carpentry business. That would be two quarterly updates. Any MTD-ready software recognised by HMRC should let you manage both in the same place.

How can I submit an MTD quarterly update right now?

If this is all new to you and you want to get it sorted out ASAP, then we’d suggest the following, which can be done on your mobile phone:

1. Download Sage Sole Trader. There’s even a free version, that’ll be free forever.
2. Create an account and sign-in.
3. Connect your business bank account, and then import your transactions.
4. Use the categorisation tool to categorise your transactions with just a swipe, if you’re using the app. The app will help auto-categorise, too!
5. If you’ve bought anything with cash, or if you’ve taken any payments in cash, create manual transactions for these using the data from receipts you’ve received, or invoices you’ve created.
6. Open your quarterly update, review it, and then tap to send it to HMRC.

That’s it. Job done.

The first time might take a short while. But by this time next year, once you’ve got the hang of it, it really is something you can do in a few minutes between jobs, or before cracking into your meal deal over lunch—especially if you categorise those digital records as they come in each time.

Can my bookkeeper or accountant handle the MTD quarterly update on my behalf?

Yes—and for plenty of people, that’s exactly the plan.

Just as your accountant or bookkeeper used to handle your Self Assessment return, they can prepare and submit your quarterly updates, and your year-end digital tax return. They can handle maintaining the digital records, too.

If you’d rather not touch the software yourself, you don’t have to. Or if you’d like to do a little of it, like record expenses, but leave the rest to the experts, then that’s also possible.

The two jobs can even be split: a bookkeeper you hire to visit your business might handle the quarterly updates while your accountant takes care of the year-end. (Behind the scenes that comes down to how they’re set up with HMRC, but that’s their concern, not yours.)

The arrangement is much the same as the once-a-year one you may already have. Picture the bundle of records you hand over each year so your return gets filed on time, by 31 January—it’s that same handover, just happening after each quarter rather than once a year.

Here’s what’s involved:

1. Authorise them to act for you. Your accountant or bookkeeper needs your permission to deal with HMRC on your behalf for MTD for Income Tax. They’ll usually set this up and send you a request to approve, which is often just a case of logging in once to confirm the link. An existing authorisation for your Self Assessment may carry across, though a fresh digital sign-off is sometimes needed.
2. Get set up on their software. They’ll typically use MTD-compatible software to manage their clients, so you may need to be added to it. It’s worth a quick conversation about which software before anyone commits, so it fits how you both like to work.
3. Get your figures to them. Two routes here. Either connect your business bank account so transactions flow straight into the software (the quickest option), or send them your paperwork, your receipts, invoices and statements, for them to record. Agree who’s doing the categorising, you or them.
4. Keep it flowing every quarter. The real change is the rhythm. Your records now need to reach them four times a year, in good time before each deadline, and more often still if you have more than one income source, since each one is reported separately.

One thing worth holding in mind: your accountant or bookkeeper is doing all of this for the first time too, and they’re doing it for every affected client at once, all hitting the same quarterly deadlines.

The end of July and first week of August will be their busiest stretch of the new year. So the kindest thing you can do for both of you is get your records or paperwork over early, with plenty of room before 7 August.

Don’t be the client emailing a year’s worth of receipts on the 5th. Get your request in now, agree how you’ll work together, and your first quarter will be calm rather than a scramble.

What happens if I get my first quarterly update wrong—or it’s late?

Here’s the reassuring bit.

First, understand that you should aim for accuracy throughout—ensuring your digital records are accurate, and ensuring your quarterly updates are accurate.

However, HMRC won’t ever impose penalties if you find you’ve made a mistake in your quarterly update, or if you find that you have to adjust things later on. (Note that this is not true for the digital tax return, which must be accurate.)

Some commentators have even suggested this means you can just submit £0 in both the income and expenses categories for every quarterly update.

But the reality is that this is not something you should ever do. This is the kind of pattern that HMRC might pick-up on as problematic.

And why would you? You’re legally required to keep accurate digital records, which means the data will be there anyway. So why not just do it properly, to the best of your ability? What’s more, the quarterly update is genuinely useful to you. You get an estimate from HMRC on how much tax you’ll owe. This is incredibly useful for cash flow.

What about timing? What if you’re late with the update?

Ordinarily HMRC would apply a penalty point. (We’ve discussed the MTD penalty point system previously here on Sage Advice, so take a look at that article for details.)

However, HMRC knows MTD for Income Tax is a big change, so it’s built in some breathing room for the first year (2026-27).

It comes in two separate parts that are easy to mix up.

1. Late quarterly updates won’t cost you penalty points in 2026/27

If you’re in this first wave, there are no penalty points for submitting any of your first four quarterly updates late.

Two things to hold onto, though: you still have to submit all four (you can’t file your year-end return until you have), and this does not cover your year-end declaration, due 31 January 2028, which sits under the normal penalty rules.

It’s a one-year reprieve and from 2027/28 onwards, a late update earns a penalty point, and four points means a £200 penalty.

2. You get slightly longer to pay

For your first year in the new penalty system, you have 30 days from the payment due date, rather than the usual 15, before a late-payment penalty kicks in.

The catch worth knowing: this holds off the penalty, not the interest. Interest still runs from the original due date and can’t be appealed, so it pays to clear what you owe as soon as you can.

Like the points easement, this is a one-off. As of 2027/28, it drops to 15 days.

The smart way to read all this: the safety net is there so you can find your feet without pressure, not so you can put it off. Treat 2026/27 as a low-stakes dress rehearsal. Get your software and your categorising right now, while a slip costs you nothing, and the year-end, when the rules tighten, will look after itself.

Danger! Why you shouldn’t wait until the MTD quarterly deadline

The soft landing period means there’s no points penalty for being a little late for this first year of MTD (2026/27).

But there’s a really good reason why you should make your quarterly update ASAP, rather than leaving it to the last minute.

The first week of August will see a rush of first-time filers all hitting HMRC’s systems at once. If you do run into a problem, that’s the worst possible moment to phone a helpline, for example.

Submit your quarterly update early and you’ve got the time and space to sort any hiccups calmly, while support is easier to reach.

But don’t forget that this is HMRC’s first time experiencing around a million MTD for Income Tax customers making a quarterly update, too.

We’re sure HMRC’s systems will cope just fine, but there’s always a risk—however small—that there are some unforeseen small issues that might cause big problems.

So, again, you don’t want to wait until 7 August to make your update only to find that there are technical issues.

Make the update as soon as you can.

What comes next: Your MTD and Income Tax calendar after the first quarterly update

Your first update is the start of a rhythm rather than a one-off, so it helps to see the road ahead. Here’s what’s coming until the start of 2028:

• 31 July 2026: 2nd payment on account for 2025/26 may be due.
• 7 November 2026: Second quarterly update for 2026/27 is due.
• 31 January 2027: For many taxpayers this is likely to be the last-ever traditional Self Assessment return (for 2025/26). Also, any 2025/26 balancing payment and first payment on account for 2026/27 may be due.
• 7 February 2027: Third quarterly update for 2026/27 is due.
• 7 May 2027: Fourth and final quarterly update for 2026/27 is due.
• 31 July 2027: 2nd payment on account for 2026/27 may be due.
• 7 August 2027: Your first MTD quarterly update for 2027/28 is due.
• 7 November 2027: Your second MTD quarterly update for 2027/28 is due.
• 31 January 2028: Your first MTD digital tax return is due (replacing Self Assessment for 2026/27), plus any 2026/27 balancing payment and your first payment on account for 2027/28 may be due.

The digital tax return is where it all comes together: you confirm your figures, add any other income such as employment, dividends or savings interest, claim your reliefs and allowances, and settle up. It replaces the annual return you’re used to but is very similar. However, most of the data will already be in the system because of your quarterly updates. How neat is that?

It’s also worth knowing the net is widening.

MTD for Income Tax reaches those with qualifying income over £30,000 from April 2027, and over £20,000 from April 2028.

And from 2027/28, the penalty points safety net falls away, which is another good reason to use this first year to get comfortable.

Final thoughts

None of this needs to be stressful, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

So, a simple plan: get your records flowing by connecting your bank and keeping your receipts and invoices, then do your first update early rather than waiting for 7 August.

You’ve got a forgiving first year and real-time tax estimates on your side, so use them.

Get this one out of the way calmly now, and every update after it gets easier.

Frequently asked questions

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Jasa Backlink

Download Anime Batch

Making Tax Digital (MTD) was first announced back in 2015, with Income Tax the first planned inclusion.

History shows things didn’t run quite to plan.

But now, here we are over a decade later: the clock is ticking down to 7 August, the first-ever quarterly update deadline for Income Tax.

For most accountancy or bookkeeping practices, this will be the first time real client data has run through the whole Making Tax Digital process end to end.

There may be challenges. But the focus must be on getting that first batch of updates out of the door. That’s what this article’s all about. No history lessons, no technical explainers. Just focusing on solving for the here and now.

Here’s what we discuss:

Triage your client list right now

Before you touch a single submission, get a clear picture of where every in-scope client stands.

You will have two broad categories, of course:

• Do it with me: Clients who have their own software and are doing their own quarterly updates (but who are anticipating your help at year end). These will need reminding of the quarterly update obligation, and perhaps reassuring, too, given this is the first time.
• Do it for me: Clients that are expecting you to do it all for them—from creating digital records, to creating and submitting the quarterly updates. These clients may need chasing and reassuring that you’re taking care of it.

It’s the latter we’re most focussed on in this article, but we do provide an email template for the former, below.

Pull your list of clients mandated from April 2026 and sort them into three buckets according to the basics of the RAG status system:

• Ready to file (GREEN): Records complete and in your software
• Data still landing (AMBER): Some records in, chasing the rest
• Nothing yet (RED): Radio silence

Then review and file every green client today, if that’s in your purview (e.g. they aren’t doing it themselves). There is nothing to gain by holding these clients, and clearing them off your desk frees the team to focus where it counts.

Remember that this is the first time HMRC has processed what will be around a million taxpayer quarterly updates (with many taxpayers submitting multiple updates, of course). All of us have confidence nothing bad will happen with HMRC’s systems but, in the same breath, it isn’t being overly cynical to get as much done as possible ahead of the deadline, before the systems will become strained.

Now work the amber list hardest: these are the ones a single phone call or scan-in session can push over the line.

The red list you triage by risk—biggest liabilities and least time first.

If you are using Sage for Accountants, the MTD for Income Tax Agent that’s part of the Sage Copilot AI can do this segmentation for you automatically, grouping clients by complexity and readiness so you are not building the list by hand. More on that below.

Get the missing data—in the fastest way possible

The bottleneck is always getting the records out of the clients.

For the disorganised ones (the classic landlord or side-hustler with a carrier bag of statements), the fastest route from raw paperwork to filed figures is scan-and-reconcile.

Use a capture tool to digitise everything in one go. Data entry automation apps like AutoEntry lets clients photograph, scan or email their invoices, receipts and bank statements, then extracts the data for you instead of anyone re-keying it—which also ticks the digital-records requirement.

You might even be able to get by just with the bank statements if the client hasn’t made cash purchases or accepted cash payments. And for clients with no ledger or accounting software at all, its AccountsPrep add-on takes those captured statements, lets you fast-code them to a chart of accounts and reconcile against the bank, and outputs a tidy set of figures.

Those using AccountsPrep say it can turn what used to be a full day’s work per client into an hour or so. For MTD, data entry software like this is not just a nice-to-have. It’s essential.

Lean on light-touch reconciliation. You no longer need to match every line by hand: let the software auto-match the bulk and have your team review the exceptions and anything that looks off.

That’s the only realistic way to get through the volume without burning people out.

The client email templates for sending today

Clients will either be DIYing the quarterly update, or will be relying on you (hopefully having arranged to do so in advance, of course).

Email both types of client with reminders. Here are some templates you can insert straight into your email software. If the client uses calendar quarter elections, you should obviously edit where required (although the deadline remains 7 August).

Clients you’re servicing only for year end

Subject: Your first Making Tax Digital update is due by 7 August

Hi [first name],

A friendly heads-up as the first Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax deadline comes round. As we’ve arranged, you will handle your own quarterly updates through your accounting software, so here’s a short guide to keep it simple and stress-free—plus a reminder that we’re on hand if you need us.

Your first quarterly update is due to HMRC by 7 August 2026. It covers your income and expenses for 6 April to 5 July, and you submit it through your MTD-compatible software, not the HMRC website.

A few things worth knowing:

• It’s not a tax bill. A quarterly update is just a summary of your income and expenses for the period. There’s nothing to pay—your tax is still due on [31 July/31 January—edit to fit].
• It doesn’t need to be perfect. The updates are cumulative, so anything that changes is tidied up automatically in your next update and finalised at year-end. Filing on time matters more than getting every penny exact.
• Don’t leave it to the last day. This is the first time millions of people are filing, so HMRC’s systems may be busy close to the deadline. Getting yours in a few days early takes the pressure off.

To submit, in short:

1. Check your software is connected to HMRC and shows you as active for MTD for Income Tax, and not connected to the old Self Assessment route any longer.
2. Make sure every transaction from 6 April to 5 July is entered and categorised, with nothing left uncategorised.
3. Review the quarterly summary your software produces, sense-checking any large entries.
4. Submit, and save the confirmation from HMRC.

If you’d rather not do it alone, or you hit anything you’re unsure about, just reply to this email or give us a call. We’re happy to check your figures before you submit, take the whole thing off your hands, or simply be on standby for your year-end—whatever’s easiest for you.

[Your name]
[Practice name]

Clients you’re servicing fully

Don’t wait for stragglers to come to you. Go to them, today, with one clear ask and one clear deadline.

Keep it warm and specific. A firm, friendly nudge with a real cut-off gets records in far faster than a vague chaser.

Subject: Urgent action needed—your records for the 7 August tax deadline 

Hi [First name], 

Your first quarterly update under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is due to HMRC by 7 August, and we need your business income and expenditure for 6 April to 5 July this year (2026). 

Could you send us the following by [date—give yourself a buffer before 7 August]: 

• Business bank statements for the period—these can usually be exported from your mobile banking app.
• Any sales invoices and expense receipts not already with us
• [Anything client-specific e.g. records for online sales] 

The easiest way is to snap or scan them and send them over — [one line on how: upload here / use WhatsApp / reply to this email / use the app we set up].

Don’t worry about sorting or categorising anything. We will do all of that. If it’s easier to talk it through, just let me know a good time for a quick call. 

Thanks—this won’t take long and we will take it from here. 

[Your name]

For clients who are worried rather than simply late, a short reassurance goes a long way.

Build a submission rota for your team

With four deadlines a year now instead of one, the practices coping best are running submissions like a production line rather than a scramble.

Set up a simple rota for the next few weeks around four roles—even if one person wears more than one hat:

• Capture: Getting records in and scanned (chasing clients, managing accounts in a tool like AutoEntry).
• Code and reconcile: Turning raw data into coded, reconciled figures using tools like AccountsPrep.
• Review (optional): A second pair of eyes sense-checking before anything goes to HMRC. This can be spot-checking if resource is limited.
• Submit: Filing through your software, saving the confirmation, and notifying the client (if that’s part of your workflow).

Work backwards from 7 August and file continuously: as each client clears review, submit them.

A daily five-minute stand-up meeting in the morning for the team—who’s green, who’s stuck, what’s blocking—keeps the whole book moving and stops anyone slipping through the cracks.

One practical heads-up: 7 August lands in school-holiday and peak holiday season, so map the rota against who is actually in the office.

Let the software do the heavy lifting

You don’t have to carry the admin load by hand. This is exactly what the new wave of AI tooling is built for, and this summer window is the moment to put it to work.

Sage’s MTD for Income Tax Agent, built on Sage Copilot, is designed for precisely this crunch. From within Sage for Accountants it can automatically segment your clients by complexity, set up the quarterly update jobs, chase missing documents across different channels, generate the submission report for you to check, and flag anything that looks wrong before it goes anywhere.

Crucially it’s configurable and keeps you in control: you decide which tasks it does automatically and which a human signs off, so it is assisted, not autonomous.

It can cut the admin around quarterly updates by up to 80% and hand back around five hours a week—time you can put into the clients who actually need advice.

The principle holds whatever tools you use: let the software do the repetitive, mechanical work—segmenting, chasing, extracting, pre-filling—and keep your people for the judgement calls, the exceptions and the final review. Used that way, this first quarter becomes far more manageable, and you finish it with a workflow you can run almost on autopilot four times a year.

What if a client just won’t make the quarterly update deadline?

Some clients on the red list will stay red, however hard you chase. And it’s not down to you to panic.

Of course, the fact is that HMRC has confirmed a soft landing for this first year. No late submission penalty points will be issued for quarterly updates during 2026/27 for this first mandated group. A client who genuinely can’t make 7 August faces no point and no fine for that update.

So the rule for the red list is simple: keep chasing, but don’t burn team hours forcing guesswork through on deadline day. In the soft-landing year, an accurate update a few days late is a recoverable, low-drama outcome—just don’t let one missed quarter quietly become a client who has fallen behind for good.

If that sounds harsh, think back to 2019. When VAT went digital, practices up and down the country discovered the same thing: a small tail of clients who wouldn’t or couldn’t make the move, no matter how much hand-holding was on offer.

The refrain on the professional forums at the time became something of a mantra—you don’t have to act for anyone you don’t want to. Many practices used MTD for VAT as the honest prompt to reprice difficult clients, redefine the service—or just part ways professionally. Few regretted it, and most wished they’d done it sooner.

MTD for Income Tax will surface the same tail, only larger. And this is the moment to remember where the responsibility actually sits: the tax obligation belongs to the taxpayer. The relationship that matters legally is between your client and HMRC. You provide services under an engagement letter. You are not the guarantor of their compliance, and a client who won’t engage is not your failing.

Have the honest conversation. Set out plainly what quarterly compliance requires from them, what it costs with you doing it, and what happens if they do nothing.

Disengage properly where it’s not working. If a client won’t engage and won’t pay for the level of service their situation demands, the professional route is a clear written disengagement: what you will and won’t complete, a firm end date, and full cooperation with whoever takes over. Do it well clear of the next deadline, put it in writing, and keep a record of the advice you gave. Then move on with a clear conscience.

After 7 August: Keep the momentum

Don’t let the machine stop when the last quarter-one update goes in. Quarter two is already underway—it covers 6 July to 5 October, with a deadline of 7 November—which means the records for it are landing in inboxes right now.

Three things to do in the week after the deadline:

• Hold a short wash-up meeting: What slowed us down, which clients need moving onto capture tools, and what should the rota look like for November — fewer summer holidays, but you’ll be running into year-end planning season.
• Roll the red list forward: Move quarter one’s stragglers straight onto the quarter-two chase list, with earlier and firmer nudges this time.
• Set the standing rhythm: Ask clients for records monthly, not quarterly. Clients who send little and often turn every future deadline into a non-event.

File the first batch, learn, and go again. By quarter three, this is just how the practice runs.

Plus, you can use quarter one as your pricing dry run. Did you make money?

Buried inside the deadline scramble is the most valuable dataset your practice will collect all year—how long quarterly servicing actually takes, client by client.

Ask the team to log time honestly this quarter against three buckets—chasing and capture, coding and reconciliation, review and submission—for each client. Nothing fancy: a shared spreadsheet does the job.

Then, in mid-August, read it. You’ll see immediately which clients are profitable at current fees across four cycles a year, which ones need moving onto capture tools before quarter two, and which need a fee conversation.

Practices that reprice on real numbers have that conversation with confidence; practices that don’t simply absorb the cost, four times a year. Start the timesheet today, before the first submission goes out of the door.

Final thoughts

The first quarterly update feels like a mountain because it is the first. Really it is the same core job you have always done—get the records, tidy the numbers, file them—on a new rhythm. Triage your book, get the data in with the right tools, keep clients calm, and file early and often.

Do that this quarter and you are not just clearing 7 August; you are building the routine that makes the next three, and every year after, genuinely easy. And keep the bigger picture in mind: four touchpoints a year instead of one is four chances to have a proper conversation with each client. That is not just more compliance — it is more opportunity.

Frequently asked questions

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The hidden hours behind late payments

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PakarPBN

A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.

In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.

The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.

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In partnership with Smart Data Foundry and The Centre for Economics and Business Research, Sage has published its latest SME Monthly Workforce Pulse research.

This is drawn from anonymised payroll data from approximately 200,000 small businesses and provides unheralded insight into pay across the UK.

The data is part of Data for Good, Sage’s commitment to help Small and Medium Businesses thrive using anonymised insights from our data and enabling better decision making by stakeholders.

As such, smart managers and leaders can use SME Monthly Workforce Pulse to plan their next moves—such as competitive pay offerings that help retain staff. That’s what we cover in this article, as follows:

SMEs are showing resilience

The data shows median gross pay rose 4.1% year-on-year to £2,203, with take-home pay up 3.3% to £1,804. Pay growth is easing amid increased slack in the UK labour market.

Headcount among micro businesses grew +0.4%, outpacing small and medium firms at +0.2% each. The £10,500 Employment Allowance may be shielding the smallest employers from the full impact of the NICs rise, but this protection falls away as firms scale up.

On a sectoral basis, Finance and Insurance was the strongest sector for headcount growth at +1.5%, while Wholesale and Retail Trade led on earnings growth at +4.5%.

Hiring continues to ease

Data also shows that real-terms pay growth is being squeezed, falling to 1.0% this month, as nominal wages cool and progress on reducing inflation is stalled by the conflict in the Middle East.

On regional granularity, Wales recorded the greatest headcount decline at -0.4% despite leading the UK on pay growth at 5.8%. Its heavy reliance on manufacturing and construction leaves it particularly exposed to energy price volatility from the ongoing Iran-Strait of Hormuz disruption.

Accommodation and Food shed the most staff of any sector at -1.4%. As one of the largest employers of young people, the sector’s continued job losses have wider implications for youth employment.

How do you plan pay rises you can keep giving?

With hiring steadier than it’s been, a lot of business owners are turning their attention to the team they’ve already got—and pay is a big part of looking after them.

The encouraging news in this month’s data is that wages are still rising. The clever bit is making sure the rises you give are ones you can keep giving.

Here are some suggestions for how to plan them with confidence.

1. Start with the full picture, not just the salary

It’s easy to think of a pay rise as simply the new figure shown on an employee’s payslip.

In practice, every pound you add brings a little extra with it—more employer National Insurance, higher pension contributions, and sometimes knock-on costs tied to salary.

None of that is a reason to hold back. It just means the smartest first move is to work out what a rise really costs before you promise it, so the figure in your head matches the one that leaves your business’s account.

Payroll software can calculate these costs quickly, helping you plan with confidence.

2. Check it against your cash flow before you commit

A pay rise isn’t a one-off, of course. It’s a commitment you make every month from here on.

So, it pays to see how it sits next to everything else.

Pull up your cash flow forecast and map the new wage bill across the year ahead.

Are there quieter months when it’ll feel a bit tighter? Busier spells that give you some breathing room?

Seeing the whole year in one view means you can be generous on purpose, rather than hopeful in the moment and nervous later.

And when the numbers say you can comfortably do it—wonderful. Now you know for sure.

3. There’s more than one way to say thank you

If an across-the-board percentage feels like a stretch this year, you have options.

In some cases, these alternatives can provide greater value to employees.

You might weight rises towards the roles that are hardest to replace, phase an increase across the year, or link a bump to a milestone everyone can get behind.

A one-off bonus, an extra day of annual leave, or a bit more flexibility can all say “we appreciate you” without locking in a permanent rise to the wage bill.

The real skill is matching the reward to what your people genuinely value—which, more often than not, isn’t only about the money.

4. Talk to your team like, well, your team

People are far more understanding than we sometimes expect—especially when they’re kept in the loop.

Being open about how you set pay, what’s gone well this year, and what you’re planning builds a kind of trust that a surprise figure on a payslip never can.

It’s also the perfect moment to help people see the full value of what they receive: the salary, yes, but also the pension, the benefits, and the flexibility.

A rise always feels bigger when someone can see everything that sits around it.

5. Deciding on the rise itself—and giving it well

At some point the planning has to turn into a decision, and this is the part that’s easiest to keep putting off.

Try not to.

Once you know what you can afford, settle on a figure you can stand behind—one that reflects the employee’s contribution, aligns with market rates for similar roles, and takes into account the cost of living.

You don’t need a complicated formula. You need a number you’d feel comfortable explaining out loud.

When you give it, be specific: tell them the new salary, when it takes effect, and—the bit that really lands and provides lasting value for you as employer—exactly why they’ve earned it.

Then make sure it actually happens: update their contract, log the effective date, and check it’s reflected on the very next payslip.

Nothing undoes a generous moment faster than a rise that doesn’t show up on time!

Final thoughts: Plan ahead, and you can keep saying yes

Here’s the honest secret to rewarding your team well: it’s less about any single decision and more about planning far enough ahead that good decisions stay possible.

Once you know your true costs, you’ve mapped them against your cash flow, and you’ve got a few ways to show appreciation up your sleeve, pay becomes something you can feel genuinely good about rather than something you worry about each spring.

Resilient businesses aren’t the ones that never hit a tight month. They’re the ones that saw it coming and planned around it.

Do that, while keeping an eye on data such as that from Sage’s SME Monthly Workforce Pulse, and you’ll be ready to keep saying yes for years to come.

Frequently asked questions

PakarPBN

A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.

In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.

The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.

Jasa Backlink

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According to Sage’s HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report, which surveyed 1,000 HR and people professionals across the UK, Ireland, and South Africa, 86% believe AI will transform HR and payroll within the next 5 years.

However, 48% are worried about the future of their role, while 61% worry about compliance and data security.

If you’re feeling that same mix of excitement and unease, don’t worry—you’re not alone.

The good news is that getting AI right is far more achievable than it looks, once you know where to focus.

In this article, you’ll learn what AI in HR means, how HR teams are already using it, where it can add value, and what risks you need to manage.

Finally, it provides a practical checklist that will help you immediately start to implement AI responsibly within your operations.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What is AI in HR?

AI in HR means using technology to automate routine tasks, analyse people data and support better decisions across HR processes.

That covers everything from screening CVs and answering policy questions to spotting trends in your workforce data before they become problems.

In practice, most HR teams will come across 2 broad uses of AI.

The first is automation and analysis—for example, tools that handle reporting, flag payroll issues, or spot patterns in workforce data.

The second is generative AI, which can help you draft job descriptions, summarise notes, or create first drafts more quickly.

You’re probably using at least one, if not both of these tools already within your HR operations.

And for good reason: when used correctly, AI can make you both more efficient and more accurate.

How are HR teams using AI? AI in HR examples

Why is AI so important for HR teams?

What’s holding HR back from adopting AI?

Your responsible AI in HR checklist

Start small and grow

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The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, often shortened to DUAA, is the first major UK-specific reshaping of data protection since the introduction of the GDPR in 2018, and Brexit in 2020.

It amends the UK GDPR legislation, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, known as PECR. It has been switched on in stages after becoming law in 2025, with June 2026 marking the final major phase of the core data protection changes.

But don’t panic if this is the first time you’re hearing about it. This definitely isn’t GDPR all over again.

For most businesses outside of enterprises, data-heavy industries, and specialist scientific operations, it’s more about focused policy-and-process review—and some colleague education.

Here’s what we discuss in this article, which is non-exhaustive and should not be considered a substitute for seeking legal advice specific to your business and situation:

What’s changed with data protection for businesses as of 2026?

For most small businesses, the DUAA means you still need to use personal information fairly, lawfully, and transparently. You still need to keep it secure. You still need to respond to people’s rights.

But you may need to update how you explain, document and manage those responsibilities.

First, some brief history.

The DUAA became law in June 2025 and had a staged rollout over the following 12 months.

Some of its changes have made headline news because they affect UK individuals.

For example, the digital identity measures came into effect on 1 December 2025. The deepfake intimate-image offence came in on 6 February 2026.

But from a business perspective, the big compliance items came into effect as follows:

• 5 February 2026: Clearer rules for using data in research, a new list of “recognised legitimate interests” that don’t need a balancing test, more flexibility around automated decision-making, a lighter touch on certain cookies, and confirmation that subject access request searches only need to be “reasonable and proportionate.”
• 19 June 2026: Mandatory data protection complaints handling.
• 23 June 2026: The updated data protection enforcement rules and aligned penalty scales are officially active.

Let’s dig into all of this, beginning with the most important changes for the average smaller business.

The 2 new obligations: Complaints, and children’s data

Two changes are genuinely new duties.

Complaints under the DUAA

First, you must now give people a clear way to complain to you directly about how you handle their personal data.

Essentially, the law now expects organisations to provide a simpler route for people to raise data protection complaints directly with them before matters escalate to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This way to complain to your business could be an electronic complaints form, or a monitored email address, as just two examples.

What’s more, you have to acknowledge the complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay, keeping a record of what you did.

While there isn’t a hard legislative deadline for the final response, the ICO expects matters to be resolved promptly, with best practice suggestions from experts and those involved intimately in data protection suggesting you should aim to conclude within three months.

The legislation says that complaints should be able to arrive by any channel and might not use the words “data protection,” so frontline staff could need to be educated in order to recognise them.

Children must be taken into account under the DUAA

The second obligation is that, if you run an online service likely to be used by children, you must explicitly take their needs into account when deciding how to use their data.

If you already follow the ICO’s Age appropriate design code, you’re largely there. If not, it’s the best place to start.

The code is built around 15 flexible standards that set expectations rather than banning or prescribing specific practices, and its key practical points are:

• Settings must be “high privacy” by default, unless there’s a compelling reason not to.
• Only the minimum amount of personal data should be collected and retained.
• Children’s data should not usually be shared.
• Geolocation services should be switched off by default.
• “Nudge techniques” should not be used to encourage children to provide unnecessary personal data or to weaken or turn off their privacy settings.

The code also addresses parental controls and profiling.

Marketing and cookies: Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) changes in the DUAA

There’s helpful flexibility when it comes to PECR changes.

Some lower-risk cookies, such as those used purely for website analytics or to remember a user’s preferences, can now be set without consent—provided you’re transparent and offer an opt-out.

This is an attempt to cut down on “cookie banner fatigue”, so that the user isn’t bothered quite as much with permission requests upon first visiting a site or other digital asset.

Advertising and tracking cookies still need consent, though, so your banner should keep “reject” as easy to find as “accept” if you’re using the likes of Google AdSense or Analytics.

Charities gain a new “soft opt-in,” letting them email people who have supported or shown interest in their work, unless those people object. Commercial organisations have had this for some time, so this is simply aligning charities with other kinds of business. This is considered a good thing for them, allowing them to send direct marketing to existing supporters who have expressed interest in their causes, greatly simplifying fundraising outreach.

Subject Access Request (SAR) changes in the DUAA

Handling Subject Access Requests (SARs) has become much more manageable for small businesses, thanks to two common-sense changes.

First, the law officially codifies a “reasonable and proportionate” search standard. This legally confirms that you do not have to conduct an exhaustive, “leave no stone unturned” hunt through every backup server or deleted item for personal data. You just need to make a well-documented, reasonable effort.

Second, the Act introduces a helpful “stop the clock” provision. If a request is vague, you can pause the standard one-month response deadline while you ask the individual for clarification, and the countdown only resumes once they provide the details you need.

Combined with a brand-new statutory exemption for legal professional privilege (meaning you never have to accidentally hand over confidential correspondence between your business and its legal team), these updates protect small teams from being buried under weaponised SARs from activists, or overly burdensome admin traps.

Other changes under the DUAA

The following changes might not affect all businesses but are worth reading through to check against what you do day-to-day:

• Commercial research and development is officially “scientific research”: Under the old framework, there was a lingering misconception that “scientific research” only applied to universities or public health bodies. The DUAA clears this up by introducing a wide statutory definition: scientific research is any research that can reasonably be described as scientific, whether it is publicly or privately funded, and whether it is carried out as a commercial or non-commercial activity. What’s more, it introduces a broad consent concept, where you can ask individuals to consent to a generalised area of research, rather than many specifics.
• Legitimate Interest Assessments (LIAs): The DUAA introduces “recognised legitimate interests” for activities like crime prevention, safeguarding vulnerable individuals, or public emergencies. If you share data with authorities for these specific reasons, you no longer need to complete a complex balancing test document.
• Automated Decision-Making (ADM) policies: Do you use algorithmic software or AI tools to make automatic, significant decisions about people without human intervention (such as automated CV screening for jobs or automated credit checks)? In the DUAA, the strict prohibition on ADM has been lifted for non-sensitive data, but you must still provide clear transparency and a meaningful path for the applicant to request a manual human review if they want to contest the result.

The ICO now has upgraded enforcement powers and penalties

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) now has stronger enforcement powers should it need it. This includes the ability to compel a witness to attend an interview (e.g. forcing an individual in a business to explain practices), and to require organisations to produce reports (at the expense of the business).

There are some potential financial changes, too. ICO fines under PECR, which cover cookies and electronic marketing, now align with UK GDPR levels, reaching up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover in the most serious cases. This is up from the old £500,000 cap.

The practical takeaway is that marketing and cookie compliance now carries the same level of risk as the rest of your data handling. This may affect any business indemnity insurance for data protection.

From the ICO’s perspective, this is all part of it transitioning into a new Information Commission-style structure with modernised enforcement capabilities.

What businesses should do right now for the DUAA

For most smaller organisations, a focused review of your existing data protection documentation and measures will likely be necessary, along with awareness sessions for colleagues.

Here are some non-comprehensive suggestions to sense check and review, as well as educate your wider team:

• Privacy notices: Update the wording on your website privacy policy to clearly signpost how an individual can lodge a data protection complaint directly with you.
• Complaints procedures: Document an internal process so that whoever monitors your customer service channels or generic email inboxes knows how to identify a data complaint, log it, and trigger the 30-day acknowledgement.
• Subject Access Request (SAR) handling: Train your team on the updated standard.
• Cookie practices: Audit your website’s cookies policies. If you are only using them for basic analytics and page functionality, you may be able to streamline or completely remove your cookie banner.
• Legitimate Interest Assessments (LIAs): If you share data with authorities for these specific reasons, you no longer need to complete a complex balancing test document. Ensure this is documented and those handling LIAs know what to do.
• Automated Decision-Making (ADM) policies: The strict prohibition on ADM has been lifted for non-sensitive data, but you must still provide clear transparency and a meaningful path for the applicant to request a manual human review if they want to contest the result. Ensure this is documented, and colleagues know what to do.

If you feel you might need outside help, then get it. Don’t leave anything to chance or leave any area shrouded in ambiguity.

But for many businesses, the above should genuinely complete the necessary work. Like we said earlier, the DUAA is not GDPR 2.0.

If you’re a more data-driven organisation, or a larger one, the changes might run deeper and you’ll want specialist support—though if that’s you, the chances are you’ve already got this completed or at least underway by the time you’re reading this article.

Final thoughts

The Data (Use and Access) Act is a sensible modernisation of rules you already follow.

For most smaller businesses, the work is targeted: review a few key policies, set up a proper complaints route, and tidy up your cookie practices.

Do that now, while the changes are fresh, and you can treat compliance as a quick tune-up rather than a scramble later.

If in doubt, the ICO’s guidance is free, plain-English and a good place to sense-check what you’ve done.

Frequently asked questions

PakarPBN

A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.

In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.

The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.

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We don’t need to tell you that, if you rent out property as a private individual, 2026 has brought some monumental compliance requirements potentially affecting everything from how you manage tenant relationships, to how you do your accounting.

What you might not know is that they’re the crest of a wave of changed requirements that will continue for the coming decade—with the end of 2026 seeing some land, too.

Most of it is manageable once you know what applies now and what’s still coming—and a fair bit, particularly the new housing standards, is more around clarifying details, than piling on new duties.

Here’s what we cover in this article, which is non-exhaustive and should not be considered a substitute for advice from an expert or legal authority:

Renters’ Rights Act: What’s already gone live

The headline change in 2026 is the Renters’ Rights Act, the key provisions for which came into force on 1 May.

We covered these key changes in depth at that time, so take a look at our article if you need to.

However, here’s a summary:

From that date, Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions ended in England, so you now need a valid reason under Section 8 to take back your property.

All tenancies became periodic, too—open-ended and rolling month to month—and tenants can leave with two months’ notice. Landlords can’t refuse a tenant simply because they’re on benefits or have children, and requests to keep a pet also can’t be unreasonably refused.

Rents are also affected, as followed (and in summary):

• Rents can only be increased once a year and must be at market rate.
• Tenants are able to challenge rent increases at the tribunal (for a £47 fee).
• Landlords can ask for no more than one month’s rent in advance.
• Bidding wars are banned.

For many landlords this required changes to marketing and even rental contracts, but these should be in place by this point.

Housing Health and Safety Rating System: Changes to how landlords can check properties

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is the tool councils use to judge whether a home is safe. It was updated on 23 June 2026, and this was its first real refresh since 2006.

We should be clear about what this is: a simplification, not a higher bar.

As a landlord, your underlying duty to keep a property free of serious hazards hasn’t changed.

What has changed is that the list of hazards has been simplified from 29 to 21, the scoring has been made easier to follow, and—most usefully for landlords—there are now baseline indicators describing what ‘good’ looks like for each hazard.

You don’t need to be a qualified inspector to use them. They double up as a handy checklist for self-auditing your own property before a council ever gets involved.

It’s worth getting familiar with those baselines now, because the HHSRS is also the tool that underpins the new Decent Homes Standard heading for private rentals—of which more in a moment.

Awaab’s Law: What it means for private landlords

Awaab’s Law deserves its own mention, if only because it’s one of the clearest signals of where things are heading when it comes to managing property as a landlord or agent.

It’s named after Awaab Ishak, the two-year-old who sadly died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in his home—an avoidable death that led to a media campaign to avoid the same happening again.

It sets legally binding deadlines for landlords to investigate and fix serious hazards.

Under Awaab’s Law, emergency hazards must be made safe within 24 hours, and significant damp and mould investigated within fixed timescales. Further phases through 2026 and 2027 widen it to cover more hazard types.

And for now, it applies only to social housing, for which it came into force on 27 October 2025.

For private landlords, the Renters’ Rights Act has set the groundwork to bring in similar rules—but that’s a later phase, and the timing is still being consulted on, so it isn’t something you need to act on today. It will give tenants specific methods to complain to their landlord, before potentially escalating to a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman (see below).

The smart, low-cost move is simply to tackle any damp or mould as soon as it’s reported. It’s cheaper than waiting for a deadline—and as Awaab’s Law indicates, it could be a matter of life and death.

The Private Rented Sector Database

A few more things are coming, but won’t be here for several years. However, you should still read up on their requirements because they could affect things like property improvements moving forward, and therefore avoid expenditure later.

From late 2026, the Private Rented Sector Database is being rolled out, which all landlords will need to register for. If they don’t then they could be subject to a £7,000 penalty if they subsequently market or let a property, potentially rising to £40,000 and criminal prosecution for repeated breaches or other serious offences.

There’s three sides to the database. Understandably, much focus has been on the benefits for tenants, who will get better transparency, understanding of their rights, and easier ways to escalate issues to their local council or the new ombudsman (see below). They will also be able to see certain details related to offences committed by landlords.

Landlords get a “one stop shop” (to quote the government), where they can learn about guidance and also learn about new and upcoming responsibilities. There will be a fee for registration that, the government says, will be “proportionate and good value”.

And finally, councils will obviously get more transparency about privately rented properties, and who owns them. The private sector database will remove the need for the Database of Rogue Landlords.

Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman

In addition to the database, every private landlord in England with assured or regulated tenancies will be legally required to sign-up to the Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman—including those who use a managing agent.

The Ombudsman’s job is to give tenants a free, independent way to complain about a landlord’s actions or behaviour, with binding powers to order an apology, information, remedial action or compensation.

In practice, it’s the escalation point that ties the other reforms together: if a tenant raises a hazard under Awaab’s Law and isn’t happy with the response, the Ombudsman is where that complaint can go next.

For landlords the duties are simple: register, stay a member while you’re letting, and comply with its decisions. A small annual fee per property is expected. The penalties for not joining mirror those for the database (see above).

On timing, there’s no confirmed date yet. The government has said it will launch as soon as possible and that landlords will be given notice and time to register, but it’s expected to follow the database—so likely in 2027.

For now, there’s nothing to do beyond knowing it’s coming.

The Decent Homes Standard

Further out from everything discussed so far, the Decent Homes Standard is being extended to private rentals for the first time. This can be considered an effective continuation of Awaab’s Law.

It sets a baseline for a property being genuinely fit to live in—free of the most serious hazards, in a reasonable state of repair, with reasonably modern facilities and a reasonable degree of warmth. The HHSRS mentioned earlier will be the tool used to measure the hazard part.

If a house doesn’t meet the Decent Homes Standard, the local council can take enforcement action and, again, penalties up to £7,000 might be issued. Tenants or the council can also apply to the first-tier tribunal to reclaim rent.

But don’t panic. Current expectations put enforcement of the Decent Homes Standard some years away—current proposals suggest a long lead-in period, but timelines are still being developed—so there’s no need to act today. It’s more something to factor into longer-term plans for the likes of ageing kitchens, bathrooms, ventilation, and heating.

The tax change for landlords: MTD for Income Tax

Here’s the bit that often gets missed in media coverage for landlords.

Alongside the housing changes, the way you report rental income to HMRC may have changed too, because of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax.

We’ve covered this in depth already here on Sage Advice, so take a look at our existing article to get up to speed if this is the first you’ve heard of it.

This affects landlords if their qualifying income is over £50,000, and the first deadline is approaching as of the date of publication of this article—by 7 August 2026, you’ll need to make your first mandatory quarterly update to HMRC.

Under MTD for Income Tax, you keep digital records and send HMRC a short update every quarter, then a final digital tax return at year end in place of the usual Self Assessment return.

It’s being phased in by income: from April 2027 landlords will need to follow the rules if qualifying income is over £30,000; and from April 2028 if it’s over £20,000.

One trap worth flagging: the threshold is based on gross income—your rent before any costs—not your profit. So a landlord with high rents and a thin margin after mortgage interest can still be caught. (Properties held through a limited company are outside MTD for Income Tax entirely.)

If you’re reading this having missed a quarterly reporting deadline, then don’t panic—there’s a first-year soft landing period, where there are no penalty points applied for late quarterly updates across the 2026/27 tax year. However, the final digital tax return still falls under normal penalty rules.

Final thoughts

2026 asks more of private landlords, but none of it is unmanageable. Much of it is about clearer, fairer renting. The trick is to separate what’s live now from what’s still coming, but still get a few foundations in place so you’re ready in time.

A few quick next steps: review your tenancy agreements and rent-increase process against the Renters’ Rights Act. Use the new HHSRS baselines to self-check each property and deal with any damp or mould sooner rather than later. And look at your income against the MTD for Income Tax thresholds so you can get your records digital well before your deadlines, if required.

Frequently asked questions

Recommended

The hidden hours behind late payments

The debate around late payments is really a debate about time: who absorbs it, who loses it, and whether incoming legislation can give any of it back.

PakarPBN

A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.

In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.

The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.

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