THE FIGURES showing how successful iXBRL corporation tax filings have inadvertently led to a dispute over the numbers.

From 1 April all corporation tax had to be filed online using iXBRL which highlights information to make financial data easier to compare.

Figures published today on Accountancy Age, sourced from Iris, Sage and HMRC, show the success rate and the number of filers using their software.

There is a dispute over HMRC's success rate, which a certain accountancy software house claims is 76%%. However the taxman is saying 94%

A debate is also brewing that 'not all tax filing software is created equally', skewing the figures' comparability.

Some suppliers can provide full tagging requirements of more than 5,000 tags - while others meet the minimum of around 3,000, which technically means those filed at the lower end are 'easier' to submit.

Today's debate has illustrated the stregth of feeling around wanting to show that their software can do the business.

However, this is just a reflection of the first month. Almost a third of corporation tax is filed towards the end of the year. I believe the proof could be in eating a Christmas pudding.