All company tax returns, including the return form, company accounts and tax computations, must be submitted online to HMRC from April 2011.

Companies House has announced that in order to reduce potential administrative burdens on businesses, it will accept company accounts in the same format as required by HMRC, known as inline XBRL (iXBRL).

Companies House will introduce their iXBRL service for unaudited full accounts by the Summer of 2010, and then continue to develop their iXBRL capability for all the main types of accounts they receive.

XBRL (short for eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a computer readable format for financial data.  It works by putting a tag on each piece of electronic data within a document.

inline XBRL makes XBRL readable by humans.  It guarantees the layout and presentation of information looks the same for both the author and the person receiving it, whether it is being viewed online or as a printout.

XBRL is expected to provide major benefits in the preparation, analysis, re-presentation and communication of business information.  It is also expected to offer cost savings through greater efficiency, improved accuracy and reliability to all those involved in supplying or using financial data.

Posted on 02 Oct 2009