Sage 50 and Making Tax Digital: who the April change actually affects

The waves, in one paragraph

VAT went digital years ago; if you file VAT through Sage 50, that box is already ticked. Income tax is the new part: over £50,000 of self-employment or property income from this April, over £30,000 from April 2027, and over £20,000 from April 2028. The thresholds are per person, not per business, and rental income counts toward them. Limited company profits are not in scope; a company director only gets pulled in by income outside the company, most commonly property.

What actually changes

Four quarterly updates to HMRC a year plus a final declaration, all sent from software that keeps digital records. The quarterly updates are running totals, not four extra tax returns, and the first one for the new joiners isn't due until summer 2027. So there is time to do this calmly, which is exactly what the adverts would rather you didn't know.

Before you buy anything

Two questions first. One: are you actually in scope this year, or in 2027, or never? Two: does something you already run (or your accountant runs) cover it? Many affected people need software for the first time; plenty of others are already covered and don't know it. The wrong move is buying a package in a hurry because a deadline advert said so; that's how firms end up paying for two systems that don't agree with each other. Impartial advice exists for precisely this shape of question.