The Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Scotland (ICAS) and other large institutes have urged the UK
government to review the date of mandatory iXBRL tax filing.
Currently HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
requires all UK companies to submit statutory accounts in the new
data format iXBRL from 1 April 2011, despite shortages of readily
available software across the market.
In a joint letter to HM Treasury exchequer
secretary David Gauke, the institutes said companies and tax agents
do not have the software yet, delaying implementation in terms of
installing and testing, and carrying out necessary staff training
by the set date.
ICAS, the Chartered Institute of Taxation,
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Association of
Taxation Technicians, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England
and Wales and Association of Accounting Technicians are all calling
for a change to the date of implementation.
They recommend a period of at least six months
from 1 April in which companies should be allowed to file their
accounts in either iXBRL or the alternative PDF format, followed by
a further year in which iXBRL tagging requirements can be cut back
from the proposed ‘minimum tagging’ to a reduced level.
