Making Tax Digital, e-invoicing from 2029, CIS, UK GDPR and audit trails explained for UK businesses, with how Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps you comply.
UK tax and data rules are moving the same way: away from spreadsheets, re-keyed figures and documents attached to emails, and towards digital records that flow from the original transaction to HMRC, your customers and your auditors without manual steps in between.
That makes compliance much easier for businesses whose sales, purchases, VAT and customer records already live in connected systems. It also means the gaps show up quickly for businesses that still rely on workarounds. This guide sets out the rules and dates that matter most, and where Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps.
Making Tax Digital is already in place for VAT and is being phased in for Income Tax. Mandatory e-invoicing follows in 2029.
Applies to every VAT-registered business, whatever its turnover. Records are kept digitally and returns are filed through compatible software.
Sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 keep digital records and send quarterly updates.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax extends to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £30,000.
HMRC publishes the detailed scope, exemptions, standards and business identifiers, giving businesses at least 12 months to prepare.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax extends to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £20,000.
VAT invoices must be issued and received as e-invoices in a standard digital format, exchanged over the Peppol network. A PDF attached to an email will no longer count.
Dates and thresholds are based on HMRC guidance published by November 2026. This guide is general information, not tax advice, so check the latest HMRC guidance or speak to your accountant about your own position.
What each one asks of your business, and how Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps you meet it.
What it requires: Every VAT-registered business keeps its VAT records digitally and files returns through software that connects to HMRC, with no manual re-keying between the records and the return.
How Dynamics 365 helps: Business Central builds the VAT return from posted transactions and submits it to HMRC, with obligations, payments and liabilities visible in one place.
Making Tax Digital for VAT guideWhat it requires: Sole traders and landlords over the income threshold keep digital records, send quarterly updates to HMRC and file a final declaration through compatible software.
How Dynamics 365 helps: Accountancy practices use Business Central to run their own finances and keep growing clients' records in order as more of them come into scope.
Business Central for accountancy firmsWhat it requires: VAT invoices must be issued and received as structured e-invoices, exchanged system to system through the Peppol network, rather than as PDFs sent by email.
How Dynamics 365 helps: Business Central's E-Documents app already sends and receives Peppol e-invoices through connected access point providers, with UK-specific rules to follow once HMRC publishes them.
UK e-invoicing guideWhat it requires: Contractors verify subcontractors, deduct CIS at the right rate and file monthly returns, while the reverse charge changes who accounts for VAT on construction services.
How Dynamics 365 helps: Business Central applies the reverse charge through VAT posting setup, and a CIS extension handles deductions, statements and returns.
Business Central for constructionWhat it requires: You need a lawful basis for holding personal data, records of consent where you rely on it, sensible retention and a way to answer requests from the people whose data you hold.
How Dynamics 365 helps: Dynamics 365 CRM keeps consent and preferences on each record, and Business Central classifies personal data fields and helps you respond to requests.
Dynamics 365 CRMWhat it requires: Auditors, lenders and HMRC expect to see who did what, when and with whose approval, and that posted figures haven't been quietly changed.
How Dynamics 365 helps: Business Central keeps posted entries locked, logs changes, routes approvals and limits access by role, so the evidence is there when it's asked for.
Role-based access, approvals and audit trailsMaking Tax Digital for VAT and mandatory e-invoicing affect almost every UK business. Each has its own guide.
The rules every VAT-registered business already follows, and how to check your process holds up.
What mandatory e-invoicing means, what HMRC has confirmed so far and what to do before the detail arrives.
Regulated manufacturers and distributors have extra rules on top of tax and data protection. Our pharmaceutical guides cover them in detail.
Batch traceability, quality control and the records regulated manufacturers and distributors need.
Read more about Pharmaceutical ERPWhat Annex 11 expects of computerised systems used in GMP-regulated work.
Read more about EU GMP Annex 11The risk-based approach to validating computerised systems in life sciences.
Read more about GAMP 5How to plan, test and document validation of an ERP or quality system.
Read more about Computer system validationOur articles on CIS, approvals and audit trails, and keeping financial data secure.
How Business Central handles CIS for construction businesses, and how approvals, permissions and audit trails keep the books defensible.
Practical steps to protect financial data and reports, from the finance team's day-to-day habits to Power BI security settings.
Tell us how you handle VAT, invoicing and approvals today, and we'll show you where Microsoft Dynamics 365 could take the manual steps out.
Yes. The UK version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central connects to HMRC, so you can retrieve your VAT obligations, get reminders, submit VAT returns and view payments and liabilities without re-keying figures. The VAT return is built from your posted transactions, which keeps the digital link HMRC requires.
Sole traders and landlords registered for Self Assessment whose qualifying income from self-employment and property is over the threshold: £50,000 from 6 April 2026, £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Limited companies are not covered, and HMRC will set out a timeline for partnerships later.
From 1 April 2029, VAT invoices will have to be issued as e-invoices in a standard digital format and exchanged between the supplier's and customer's systems. A PDF attached to an email will no longer count. HMRC's roadmap, published on 28 October 2026, confirms Peppol as the core framework and says the detailed scope, exemptions and standards will be published between October 2027 and April 2028, so it is worth checking now that your finance system can send and receive structured e-invoices.
The domestic reverse charge for construction services can be set up in Business Central's VAT posting setup, so the right VAT treatment is applied on sales and purchase invoices. CIS deductions, verifications and monthly returns are normally handled with a CIS extension built for Business Central, which we can advise on.
Dynamics 365 CRM holds consent and communication preferences on each person's record, so you can show what someone agreed to and exclude them automatically. Business Central lets you classify fields that hold personal data and helps you find and export a person's data when they make a request. Role-based permissions limit who can see what.
Posted entries cannot be edited or deleted, so mistakes are corrected with reversing entries that stay visible. The change log can record who changed which fields and when, approval workflows show who signed off what, and permission sets control who can post, approve or change set-up.
