What's New in Dynamics 365 Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 is now available. This release delivers two GA AI agents, four embedded Power BI apps, a rebuilt financial reporting engine, a global Withholding Tax framework, and an enhanced MCP Server.

Official release plan: BC 2026 Wave 1 Planned Features
Download the free: BC 2026 Wave 1 Release Overview

Finance and Accounting

Finance teams have the most to evaluate. The Payables Agent is now generally available worldwide — it monitors shared vendor mailboxes, reads invoice attachments, and matches lines to purchase orders automatically. Watch the walkthrough | Microsoft Learn

Beyond AP automation, Wave 1 delivers Financial Reporting with a tile-based UI, lifecycle states, and scheduled email delivery; a new Withholding Tax Framework covering the full vendor purchase cycle; configurable Excise Duties for alcohol, sugar, plastic, and more; US Bonus Depreciation natively in BC; Self-Billing Invoices from posted purchase receipts; and a rebuilt E-Documents and Peppol framework.

Sales, E-Commerce and Shopify

The Sales Order Agent is now generally available — it monitors a shared customer mailbox, reads incoming orders, and creates BC sales order drafts for human review. Watch the walkthrough

Shopify gets two meaningful upgrades: Presentment Currency syncs the storefront price directly to the BC order, and Product Information Management lets you manage your catalog centrally in BC and push it to Shopify. An embedded Sales Analytics Power BI App rounds out this area.

Supply Chain and Reporting

Wave 1 adds a native Quality Management Extension with QA workflows, lot tracking, and inspection routing. On reporting, Microsoft has embedded four Power BI apps directly in BC at no extra license cost: Finance, Sales, Supply Chain, and Subscription Billing. Analysis Mode v2 is now AL-deployable, and 36 new read-only APIs give external BI tools direct access to BC data.

Full release notes: What's New in Update 28.0

AI, Copilot and the MCP Server

Agent Designer reaches GA in May 2026, letting any team build custom AI agents connected to BC data using natural language and AL code. Microsoft Learn

The Business Central MCP Server receives five significant upgrades: configuration validation with one-click fixes, import and export between environments, any-host support for MCP-compliant AI clients, embedded resources for live BC data access, and telemetry and audit events. Watch the walkthrough

IT, Security and Administration

A new Permissions Overview Page lets admins analyze user permissions across every object in analysis mode. The Approval User Overview consolidates approval chains and delegation history in one view. Wave 1 also adds 12 new read-only APIs, Cloud for Sovereignty controls with a full access audit trail, and Database Index Management from the BC client. Watch the walkthrough

What to Test Before Wave 1 Goes Live

Optional features enabled in Wave 1 become mandatory in Version 29. The highest regression risk areas are AP posting, Shopify currency sync, drop shipment reconciliation, Power BI data refresh, and user permission changes. Set up a dedicated sandbox, enable Wave 1 via Feature Management, document your baseline, and get process owner sign-off before touching production.

For a complete feature checklist, download the free BC 2026 Wave 1 Release Overview.

TheTestMart is an automated testing platform built specifically for Microsoft Dynamics 365. If you want to know exactly what Wave 1 breaks before your users do, contact TheTestMart.