diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index bceb2162f..bb5bc9039 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 -- the release version. Normally major.minor[.bugfix], must be numeric.
 -- examples: 0.5, 0.5.1 (a bugfix release), 0.5.98 (0.6 alpha), 0.5.99 (0.6 beta)
-0.4.98
\ No newline at end of file
+0.5
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Version.hs b/Version.hs
index 635d4173f..2e29a42aa 100644
--- a/Version.hs
+++ b/Version.hs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import Ledger.Utils
 import Options (progname)
 
 -- updated by build process from VERSION
-version       = "0.4.98"
+version       = "0.5.0"
 #ifdef PATCHES
 -- a "make" development build defines PATCHES from the repo state
 patchlevel = "." ++ show PATCHES -- must be numeric !
diff --git a/hledger.cabal b/hledger.cabal
index 78e7fb2fd..2a4212223 100644
--- a/hledger.cabal
+++ b/hledger.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Name:           hledger
 -- updated by build process from VERSION
-Version:        0.4.98
+Version:        0.5
 Category:       Finance
 Synopsis:       A ledger-compatible text-based accounting tool.
 Description:    hledger is a partial haskell clone of John Wiegley's "ledger" text-based