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What chance for last minute iXBRL reprieve?

2nd Feb 2011
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John Stokdyk takes some soundings after six tax bodies called for a delay to the iXBRL deadline.

So, what are the chances of success for the call from ACCA, AAT, ATT, CIOT, ICAEW Tax Faculty and ICAS to delay the imposition of mandatory efiling for Corporation Tax from 1 April?

The tax bodies came together to protest about the impracticality of achieving that deadline when accountants - and some of their software suppliers - haven’t had time to adapt and test their systems. My first instinct was that the profession’s representatives had left it a bit late to make their protest, which arrived in my in-box the morning after the Self Assessment deadline.

HMRC’s spokesman confirmed this view later in the day by explaining that Treasury ministers would consider the representations, “but the current plan to mandate the online channel with iXBRL for company tax returns remains in place”.

Translation: “Keep whistling chaps, 'cos we're not listening.”

HMRC noted that while one developer [Sage] will not have its accounts production software ready for 1 April and will support users with an interim tagging system, more than 30 suppliers have already delivered iXBRL-enabled efiling solutions.

Digita founder Jerry Rihll has overseen the effort to get Thomson Reuters tools ready for the iXBRL deadline. He’s got some very good contacts in Whitehall, so when he suggested the possibility of an extra few months’ grace could be “50:50”, my attitude started to change. Maybe the Treasury could change its mind, even at this late date.

As ACCA’s Chas Roy-Chowdhury noted, there is a new willingness within the coalition government to listen to business representatives and to adjust new measures to relieve the administrative burden. The Department of Justice just did it with the Bribery Act, so what’s to stop the Treasury from following suit?

It's going to be an interesting week or two in the world of efiling.

What do you think the ministers should do? Vote in our online poll to let them know.

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Replies (4)

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John Stokdyk, AccountingWEB head of insight
By John Stokdyk
02nd Feb 2011 18:36

Decision due on Thursday?

We've had a note from John Turner at Corefiling suggesting that Treasury ministers will make their minds up on Thursday (3 Feb) whether to stick with the 1 April mandation date.

As the company credited with the "inline" XBRL model that HMRC adapted, CoreFiling is strongly in favour of proceeding as planned and Turner muttered that the push for a delay "seems to be a disinformation campaign" backed by one or two large software players.  "It is unfortunate that some appear to have fallen for it," he added.

Latest update: Arguments for and against iXBRL delay.

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By david wilks
03rd Feb 2011 11:55

Am I missing something?

I have started following the iXBRL situation with interest but may not have read all the comments. Whilst I am not against documents being filed in such a form that they may be disseminated easily within Government departments, I am wondering why, if this is to be the compulsory mode of filing, the Government do not just give the means for converting excel in to iXBRL to all those involved.

Is that too naive a question?

 

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By Andy3T
03rd Feb 2011 11:59

Effect of a delay?

I'm not sure that a delay of a few months or so would have any real practical effect - every April-June year end company I know of is planning to file by March anyway to avoid the extra cost of iXBRL - I'm expecting very few filings between 1 April and July/August.  So a slight deferral on the accounts side could be a very cheap giveaway from HMRC's perspective.

Sage's competitors will of course no doubt disagree!

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By naomi2000
04th Feb 2011 12:12

My two pennyworth

My software suppliers are ready so I could say press on. However, I do think that there should be a longer introduction period and paralllel filing for a period of a year. I know that there have been a small number of test filings but I don't think that's anything like enough to establish that the system is robust.

I'm not a Sage fan but surely even HMRC know that it's the best known and most widely used system in the UK.

If there is a recovery, it's still uncertain and patchy . Is it really good for Britain to have all the accountants who use Sage snarled up in semi manual tagging or emergency system changes rather than focussing on supporting businesses?

 

 

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