Hiding in the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announcements published on 26 March was a technical note entitled ‘Modernising the tax system through Making Tax Digital‘. This note announces that the income threshold for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax & Self Assessment (or MTD for ITSA) is to drop to £20,000 per annum for sole traders and landlords. If you fall into this category, this means moving your tax completely over to digital by April 2026. But don’t worry, let’s see what MTD for ITSA is all about.

Uncertainty can be a major threat to your strategic financial planning. Being unsure of what lies around the corner makes it difficult to make those important financial decisions around operational budgets, investment and growth funding. But by using forecasting and scenario-planning, you make it easier to manage your finances and reduce some of the financial uncertainty.

Some great new enhancements have come to Xero in the first few months of the year, here's some important features that have been released: Enhancements to the new invoicing Keyboard shortcuts. Drag and drop attachments. Date Picker quick select. Exchange rate adjustments in the invoice. Tracking categories for invoices. Automated bill entry The ability to upload bills directly to Xero, create one or many bills by dragging and dropping multiple files. Xero creates draft bills with the key details, and the original document is attached. Other important features (region dependent) Bank feed updates (Australia adds Suncorp Bank, United States gains PNC Commercial). Simplified whole operations with improved sales orders (United States). Easier 1099 reporting and filing (United States). Streamlined tax workflow and compliance (United Kingdom). Easier reporting (United States Schedule C compliance report, New Zealand not-for-profit tier 3 & 4 PBE reports). For the full breakdown read Xero's update .

Imagine this: you hire a new team member. On their first day, you throw them into the deep end with no onboarding, no guidance, and no feedback. Then, a month later, you wonder why they aren’t thriving. Sounds ridiculous, right? And yet, this is exactly how many businesses treat new software and processes. They buy a system, plug it in, and expect it to immediately deliver top-tier performance. But just like any human hire, technology needs time, support, and a structured path to success.  So, how do you embed new software or processes into your team the right way? The same way you would with any team member—by making sure it’s nurtured, monitored, and given the opportunity to grow with your business.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, delivered the Spring Statement on Wednesday 26 March. With the full Budget now moved to the Autumn, the Spring Statement was a chance for the Labour Government to respond to the latest economic forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) and to set out its wider economic strategy. But, as widely predicted, there were also announcements of spending cuts across both the benefits system and the public sector as a whole. We’ve summarised the key points and the impact they may have for you and your business.

Making your business a success story may be what drives you to get out of bed every morning. But your business also needs to deliver on your personal goals as well. Profits, dividends and bonuses need to be stable enough to help you maintain your desired lifestyle, whether that’s two holidays a year, or paying the mortgage on a new family home. In this series, we’ll look at the core ways your business can be structured to deliver on your own personal, family, philanthropic and leisure goals.

You started your business to have the freedom of being in charge. But are you actually working harder than ever and drowning in admin, meetings and other demands on your time? Don’t worry, there are ways to get your work/life balance back under control.  In this series, we’ll look at the core ways your business can be structured to deliver on your own personal, family, philanthropic and leisure goals.

You spend a lot of time making sure your business runs like clockwork. But is your business delivering for you personally, as the owner and/or founder? In this series, we’ll look at the core ways your business can be structured to deliver on your own personal, family, philanthropic and leisure goals.  A business that supports your personal vision and life goals When you started your business, you’ll have had a clear idea of how this new venture would provide for you and your family. But, over time, your attention can become focused on the day-to-day operations, with less awareness of how the company is delivering on your own personal and entrepreneurial goals. In this series, we want to reverse that flow. We want you to think clearly about what you want from life, your business and your wider position as an entrepreneur.

You may find a brown letter from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) dropping onto your doormat soon, with details of the soon-to-be-mandatory MTD for ITSA. But what is ‘MTD for ITSA’ and why do you need to know about it?