SAP Business ByDesign - What's New in the August 2026 Release (26.08 Update)

SAP Business ByDesign 26.08: What's New August 2026 Update is now live, and if you've been searching for what's actually changed this quarter, you're in the right place. Instead of wading through SAP's raw release notes, we've broken the SAP Business ByDesign 26.08 What's New August 2026 update down into plain English - organised by business area, with the country-specific legal changes pulled out separately so you can quickly spot whether anything affects you.

There isn't one single headline feature this quarter. Instead, 26.08 is a broad, steady release: a handful of useful usability wins for every user, a meaningful compliance push for finance teams (especially in France and Germany), and a long tail of smaller fixes across Supply Chain, CRM, HR, and Project Management. Below is the complete picture.

1. Quick Summary:

SAP Business ByDesign, What's New August 2026 - 26.08 update

• 48 changes in total across the release

• Usability & performance improvements make up the largest share - smaller day-to-day fixes that add up

• Financial Management sees the most activity, driven by tax and compliance updates in France, Germany, Austria, Canada, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, China, India, Israel and Japan

• One action-required item: India's Form 131 replaces Form 16A for TDS reporting

2. Top Highlights for Users

These are the changes we think are most worth knowing about, regardless of where you're based:

• New Notification Bell Icon - A bell icon now sits in the header, showing your five most recent open Alerts, Tasks, Notifications, and Clarifications at a glance, with a "View All" link through to your full Work Inbox. Enabled via Business Configuration.

• Mobile App Stability Upgrade - The SAP Business ByDesign mobile app (Android and iOS) has been rebuilt on newer libraries for improved stability.

• Screen Reader & Accessibility Improvements - The Help button and field labels/values are now announced more clearly by screen readers, and empty fields are read out as "blank" - a genuinely useful accessibility upgrade for assistive-technology users.

• Download Replaces Open in Preview Dialogs - Output History and Preview screens now use a Download option instead of Open, standardising how you retrieve generated files.

• Purchase Order Approval Flexibility - You can now edit an old purchase order even if the original approver has since left the organisation - a small change that removes a genuine day-to-day blocker.

3. Financial Management

The busiest area this release, with a strong compliance and tax focus.

General Enhancements

• Exchange Rate Update on Bank Statements - When processing CAMT53 bank statements (.02 and .08), the bank-provided exchange rate is now shown at line-item level for information.

• ISO20022 CAMT Bank Details - Business Partner Bank details are now shown on bank statement line items for Return of Incoming/Outgoing Payments.

Country-Specific Compliance Updates

• France - E-Invoicing for Tax Compliance: B2B invoice data can now be transmitted electronically to French tax authorities via SAP Document and Reporting Compliance (DRC Cloud Edition), using UBL 2.3 XML for invoices, credit memos, and down payments, with PEPPOL integration.

• France - E-Reporting for Tax Compliance: Automated submission of B2B non-domestic and B2C transaction/payment reports to French tax authorities through DRC, with real-time status tracking.

• Germany - EUBP Audit Extraction (Controlled Availability): Financial audit data can now be extracted and sent to the German tax authority's test tool (DRV) via DRCC connectivity, for files up to 10MB.

• Germany - New Annual VAT Return Form 2026: Available to customers from 1 January 2027.

• Germany - New Tax Number Category: A new 11-digit Business Identification Number (W-IdNr) field is available for the new 2026 VAT return.

• Austria - VAT Cut for Essential Food: From 1 July 2026, VAT on essential food items drops to 4.9%, with new tax codes (41, 17, 517) and matching tax return layout boxes.

• Canada - New PST Tax Rate: British Columbia's Provincial Sales Tax for liquor purchases is now configurable at 10%.

• Ireland - New Tax Number Type: "CN - Company Number" is now available.

• Malta - New Tax Number Type: "CRN - Company Registration Number" is now available.

• Spain - New Tax Event: A new tax event supports VAT plus equalization tax for Spanish SII returns (tax code/event 121).

• Spain - New Tax Number Type: An "Others" tax number type is now available.

• Sudan - New Tax Number Type: "TIN - Tax Identification Number" is now available.

• Switzerland - Unified QR Invoice Grouping: System-generated and migrated QR invoices now display together in dunning forms, grouped by IBAN, currency, and payment attributes (with new migration template fields).

• China - Configurable FDEI Template Version: New From/To Date fields let you manage Fully Digitalized Electronic Invoice template versions directly in master data, without manual file changes or hotfixes.

• India - Form 131 Replaces Form 16A (Action Required): A new TDS certificate for non-salary income, aligned with revised Income-tax Rules.

• Israel - Enhanced Withholding Tax File: Two new fields (Additional Tax from All Income Sources; Additional Tax from Capital Sources) are added to the Recipient Record.

• Japan - Phased Input Tax Deduction Changes: Deduction rates for non-qualified invoice issuers step down from 70% (Oct 2026) to 50% (Oct 2028) to 30% (Oct 2030), fully phased out by September 2031.

4. Customer Relationship Management

• Sales Order Project Fields in PSM: Project Start Date and Project Type parameters (used in the Create Project action) are now available in the Public Solution Model, enabling project-based sales orders for partner or custom development.

• OTCS Rounding Logic Documentation Removed: The special rounding logic for Over-the-Counter Sales/Manual Invoice (a Controlled Availability feature) has had its documentation withdrawn, as it saw no customer adoption.

• Outlook Add-in Security Upgrade: The SAP Business ByDesign Outlook Add-in has been upgraded with the latest security patches, available from the Download Center.

• US - Tax Jurisdiction Work Center View: US customers can now enable a dedicated Tax Jurisdiction view (via scoping) to resolve postal code/taxation region mismatches on sales orders.

5. Supplier Relationship Management

• Purchase Order Approval Validation: You can now edit an old purchase order even if the original approver has left the organisation.

• Add Row Hidden for Finished Items: The "Add Row" option no longer appears for finished-status items on the Purchase Order Prices and Costs tab.

• Supplier Invoice Budget Category No Longer Mandatory: Budget Category is no longer a required field on the basic/details screens of Supplier Invoice.

6. Supply Chain Management

• Inbound Delivery Notification Web Service Enhancement: TransportTracking can now be passed during creation via the ManageStandardInboundDeliveryNotificationIn web service operation.

• External Identified Stock ID Visible: This field is now viewable in the Stock Overview work center.

• Bulk Deletion of Zero-Quantity PO Lines: A new "Remove Zero Quantity Items" button lets you delete multiple zero-fulfilled-quantity lines at once during Post Goods Receipt.

• RPA to BPA Migration Note: If IRPA wasn't previously descoped and you want to add new projects in BPA, you'll need to raise a case (component AP-ML-PRV-BLR) to descope IRPA first.

• Bill of Materials Status Fields: Consistency Status and Obsolete Status fields are now available in the PROD_BILL_OF_MAT / BOM_VARIANTS_0002 extraction.

• Extended Character Limits for Buyer Account Names: The ManageODIn read operation now supports buyer account names/additional names beyond 80 characters.

• Kit Item List Status Filtering: A new Status field (Active/Obsolete) is available in Kit Item List data extraction, with filtering support - useful for migration projects.

7. Human Resource Management

• Hide Task Activities in Timesheet Editing: You can now hide specific tasks/activities from the Edit Timesheet view via the Manage My Worklist visibility settings, keeping hidden items out of time entry search results.

8. Project Management

• Project Task Attachment Change Tracking: All actions on project task attachments (add, replace, delete) are now visible in the Change tab of Project Overview - useful for audit trails.

  
  

9. Cross Topics

General platform changes that touch every user, regardless of module.

• New Notification Bell Icon - View your five most recent open work items (Alerts, Tasks, Notifications, Clarifications) directly from the header.

• Mobile App Enhancements - Latest libraries applied for better stability on Android and iOS.

• Deleted Template Details Dropdown - A new dropdown in Master Template Maintenance lets you locate details of deleted master templates.

• Download Option Replaces Open - Preview Dialog and Output History/Resubmit screens now offer Download only, with the old Open option removed.

• Enhanced SSO Certificate Error Messaging - Uploading an SSO certificate that shares a public key with an existing one now returns a clear error, prompting you to follow up with your Identity Provider.

• Enhanced Supplier Data Extraction - Supplier Master Data extraction (single- and multi-channel) now includes Email-CC and Email-BCC columns in the Collaboration Sheet output.

• Improved Screen Reader Support for the Help Button - The Help (?) button is now correctly announced by screen readers, including its accessible name and control type.

• Improved Screen Reader Announcements for Fields - Field labels and values (including blank fields) are now announced more clearly for assistive technology users.

• Organisational Unit Extension Field Persistence - Values in Organisational Unit Categorisation Extension Fields now persist through structure changes, synchronisation, and refresh operations.

• SAP Support Portal Restored for Key Users - Access to the Support Portal page, temporarily removed during the Built-in Support (DSX) rollout, has been restored for key users in the Help Center.

• Case Status Correction Post-DSX Migration - Cases stuck in "In Process - Provider Action" after migrating to the new built-in support can now be corrected to Completed via a support case.

• Report a Case Removed from Session Timeout Pop-up - The session timeout notification no longer shows a "Report a Case" option, since it isn't relevant once a session has already expired.

• Updated Region Codes (Greece & Liechtenstein) - Region codes for Greece and Liechtenstein have been added/updated to align with current ISO standards.

  
  

10. Localisation & Legal Compliance at a Glance

If you operate in - or trade with - any of the following countries, this table is your fastest way to check relevance:

10. What This Means for Your Business 

If you're finance-focused: France's e-invoicing and e-reporting rollout is the standout item this release - if you have French entities or trading partners, this is worth reviewing with your SAP partner ahead of go-live deadlines. German, Austrian, and Swiss finance teams also have concrete changes to plan for.

If you're an everyday user: the notification bell, mobile app stability fixes, and accessibility improvements are small but genuinely useful quality-of-life upgrades that apply no matter where you're based.

If you're in procurement or supply chain: the purchase order approval fix (editing orders after an approver has left) and bulk zero-quantity line deletion are practical time-savers.

If you're in India: the Form 131/16A change is the one mandatory action item in this release - make sure your TDS reporting process is updated.

That covers the SAP Business ByDesign 26.08 What's New August 2026 update in full. For the full technical detail on any item, see SAP's official 26.08 release documentation SAP Help Portal - What's New in SAP Business ByDesign or the official SAP Community release announcement.