Companies House receive first iXBRL accounts

THE FIRST SET of accounts to use new tax technology iXBRL has been filed at Companies House.

The business registrar confirmed it had received the first set of iXBRL compliant accounts filed online, earlier this year.

iXBRL (inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a technology that highlights or tags financial information in tax returns and company accounts.

On 1 April HM Revenue & Customs required all corporate tax returns to be filed in this format.

Paul Winston from Paul Winston Chartered Accountants submitted the accounts using Digita software.

Jack Mansfield, head of online transactions Companies House, said: "Digita is the first software provider to achieve the e-filing of iXBRL format audited accounts with Companies House.

"They [iXBRL accounts filed] are ‘global firsts' as far as a public register and iXBRL are concerned."

Originally Companies House mandated that all accounts filed would need to be in iXBRL format by 2013. However, in the summer the registrar decided against enforcing the requirement, as uptake of the technology had proved so popular.

Winston said: "We are delighted to make history...The process is so straight forward, and the ability to electronically file accounts without having to spend hours retyping every word of the notes represents a major breakthrough.

"It is something we have been looking forward to for years."