UK: online filing of accounts - HMRC and Companies House joint approach statement

HMRC and Companies House have published a statement concerning their joint approach to the online filing of accounts, the development of which was one of the recommendations in the Carter Review (2006). The statement explains:

HMRC has now decided that statutory accounts and tax computations showing the derivation from those accounts of the entries in the Company Tax Return must be delivered electronically using Inline XBRL (iXBRL) format. Inline XBRL will allow companies and agents to submit their accounts and tax computations to HMRC with all branding, stylistic and terminological preferences in the human-readable form. The use of iXBRL will be mandatory when filing accounts with HMRC as part of a Company Tax Return for all accounts prepared under the Companies Act 2006. Companies with less complex tax affairs will be able to use HMRC’s software, provided free on their website, which will allow those companies to fully meet their HMRC filing obligations after mandation.

HMRC will introduce their iXBRL service in November 2009. Companies House will add iXBRL software filing for unaudited full accounts to their service by the summer of 2010 and then continue to develop their iXBRL capability for all the main accounts types they receive by summer 2011".