Accountwise

Are you on track for a full State Pension?

Your State Pension depends on how many qualifying years of National Insurance you have built up over your working life.

✔️ 35 years = full new State Pension
✔️ 10–34 years = a reduced amount
❌ Less than 10 years = no State Pension entitlement

The good news? Even if you haven’t paid National Insurance in the traditional way, you might still be building up qualifying years through credits (for example, if you’re claiming child benefit or certain state benefits).

Whether you’re employed or self-employed, the rules can vary, and there may be options to top up your record if you have gaps.

A quick check of your State Pension forecast can help you understand where you stand and whether action now could boost your future income.

👉 Read our full blog to find out how it all works and what you can do if you’re falling short - the link is in the comments

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - time is ticking

We’re continuing to work with a number of our clients as they prepare for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, which will start from April 2026.

The changes will apply to self-employed individuals and landlords with business and/or property income over £50,000 (that’s total income before expenses). From April 2026, this will mean keeping digital records and sending quarterly updates to HMRC, with the first update due by 7 August 2026.

HMRC recently confirmed that around 860,000 people will be affected by the changes. They’re encouraging people to start preparing now, highlighting the benefit of spreading tax administration more evenly across the year rather than leaving everything to the annual deadline.

It’s also important to remember that the usual self-assessment tax return will still be required for the 2025/26 tax year, due by 31 January 2027. So during the 2026/27 tax year, those affected will be submitting quarterly updates while also finalising their previous year’s return.

If you think these changes may apply to you, or you’d like to start planning your move to digital record-keeping, please do get in touch - we’d be happy to help.