HMRC and Companies House returns
Companies House and HMRC have issued a joint statement to update businesses on moves to develop a joint filing facility. This follows a recommendation published by Lord Carter as part of a 2006 review of HMRC’s online facilities. This recommendation was accepted by the Government and both HMRC and Companies House have been working closely to make joint filing possible.
The main development in the joint statement concerns the fact that Companies House will accept company accounts in the same data format (known as iXBRL) as will apply to HMRC online filing of Company Tax Returns for all returns delivered after 31 March 2011 for accounting periods ending after 31 March 2010.
Companies House are expected to introduce their iXBRL service for unaudited full accounts by the summer of 2010 and to continue developing capability for all filings to support iXBRL. It is hoped that these developments will make the filing of accounts easier for businesses and software developers.