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. These are changes that touch every team in your organization.
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 (Overview); a new Withholding Tax Framework covering the full vendor purchase cycle (Overview); configurable Excise Duties for alcohol, sugar, plastic, and more (Overview); US Bonus Depreciation natively in BC; Self-Billing Invoices from posted purchase receipts; and a rebuilt E-Documents and Peppol framework (Overview).
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. A new Agent Task Pane surfaces all agent activity in a unified panel, and a Review Bar highlights every change an agent makes. 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. Drop Shipment Posting and Purchase Order Matching both receive accuracy improvements that reduce manual reconciliation.
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 | Microsoft Learn
Partners building Copilot features no longer need their own Azure subscription. Microsoft-managed Azure OpenAI resources are now available directly, with content filtering policies and an AI feature evaluator included. 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 (5 permission, 7 approval and workflow), Cloud for Sovereignty controls with a full access audit trail, Database Index Management from the BC client, and a modernized Users list and detail page. 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 organized by area, plus a five-step testing guide and links to every Microsoft Learn article and YouTube walkthrough, download the free BC 2026 Wave 1 Overview: Download the BC 2026 Wave 1 Release Overview
Official Microsoft Resources
What to Test Before Wave 1 Goes Live
TheTestMart is an automated testing platform built specifically for Microsoft Dynamics 365, including Business Central and the wider D365 suite, mapping every Microsoft wave release to targeted test scenarios so your team gets clear pass/fail evidence before changes go live. If you want to know exactly what Wave 1 breaks before your users do, we can help.
