Smarter Blog – Sept 2026

We hope everyone is well. Summer appears to be disappearing fast and with the children back at school and the evenings beginning to draw in, it feels as though autumn is already upon us.

It’s been a while since we last communicated and there are several important updates to cover, including an increase in Xero subscription prices, our experience of the first Making Tax Digital for Income Tax quarterly submissions, a reminder about 2025/26 Self-Assessment Tax Returns and the Autumn Budget, which will take place on 28 October.

Xero Price Increase

Xero increased the prices of its UK subscription packages from 1 September 2026. We manage and pay for Xero subscriptions on behalf of many of our clients, and we will be passing these increases on from 1 October 2026.

The revised monthly Xero subscription prices are:

• Ignite: £18 per month plus VAT
• Grow: £39 per month plus VAT
• Comprehensive: £55 per month plus VAT
• Ultimate: £70 per month plus VAT

If you currently benefit from a Xero promotional discount, the discount should continue to apply to the revised price until the promotion expires. However, subscriptions on special discounted pricing may lose that discount if they are moved to a different plan.

Nobody particularly enjoys a price increase. Xero does, however, continue to invest in the software and introduce new features. We continue to believe that it provides a strong accounting platform and helps clients and the Smarter team work together more efficiently.

Clients affected by the increase will see the revised amount charged from October onwards. Please remember, this is a Xero subscription price increase rather than an increase to Smarter Accounting’s fees.

If you are unsure which Xero package you are currently using, or whether it remains the most appropriate package for your business, please speak to your usual Smarter contact.

Making Tax Digital: The First Quarter

We have now worked through the first round of quarterly submissions under Making Tax Digital.

We will be honest: the process has not been straightforward. There has been plenty for clients and the Smarter team to get used to, and the first quarter involved a considerable amount of additional work.

The most important lesson is that Making Tax Digital relies on us receiving your accounting information early. Under the new quarterly system, we cannot wait until the end of the tax year to bring everything together. Records need to be kept up to date and information needs to reach us in sufficient time to prepare/review the return, deal with any queries and make the necessary quarterly submission.

We appreciate that this represents a significant change, particularly for clients who have traditionally provided their records once a year, and will do going forwards as the reducing threshold brings many more clients into the system. We are working with everyone affected to make the process as simple and practical as possible.

However, the quarterly deadlines mean that leaving everything until the last minute will not work. We ask that you provide information promptly and respond as soon as you can when someone from the Smarter team contacts you with questions or requests for records.

The first quarter was always going to involve a learning curve. Making Tax Digital is manageable and in the long term will provide a benefit to some, BUT it needs clients and the Smarter team to work together. If we establish the right systems and good habits now, future quarters will be considerably easier for everyone.

2025/26 Self-Assessment Tax Returns

2025/26 Self-Assessment Tax Returns are being worked on by the team as we speak.

If you have not already provided your records and information to us, please get everything across as soon as possible.

The filing deadline may still seem some way off, but January arrives remarkably quickly and the final few months are always extremely busy. Receiving your information early gives us time to prepare the return properly, raise any queries and tell you how much tax is due well before the payment deadline.

Please do not leave matters until January. We want to complete returns in good time rather than have clients and the Smarter team facing unnecessary last-minute pressure.

Getting your return completed early also gives you certainty over your tax position and more time to plan for any payment that may be due. Completing the return early does not mean that the tax has to be paid early.

To help us, please make sure that you send us all the relevant information rather than providing part of it now and the remainder much later. If you are unsure what records we require, please contact your usual member of the Smarter team.

Autumn Budget: 28 October 2026

The Chancellor will deliver the Autumn Budget on Wednesday 28 October.

As seems to be the case before every Budget, speculation is already building about possible tax rises and other changes. There are understandable concerns about what may be announced, particularly after the tax increases and allowance freezes of recent years.

The Government continues to face pressure on the public finances. Even where increases to headline tax rates are avoided, substantial amounts can still be raised through changes to allowances, thresholds, exemptions and reliefs. Calling something by a different name does not necessarily make it any less of a tax rise.

At this stage, however, much of what is being discussed remains pure speculation rather than confirmed policy. Our advice is not to make rushed or irreversible decisions based solely on newspaper reports, political commentary or rumours.

We have seen plenty of speculation before previous Budgets that has proved to be inaccurate or has only told part of the story. Even where a rumoured announcement turns out to be correct, the detailed rules can be very different from the initial headlines.

As always, the Smarter team will review the Chancellor’s announcements and, more importantly, the detailed documents published alongside the Budget. We will then provide a further update explaining the important changes and what they may mean for our clients in practice.

Let’s hope the Chancellor avoids adding too many more layers to an already ridiculously complicated tax system. We are not holding our breath!

We provide more regular updates through Facebook. Therefore, if you want the latest news, please like our Facebook page.

If you have any questions about any of the topics covered in this update, please contact your usual member of the Smarter team.

Best wishes, take care,