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Support topics - VT Final Accounts

iXBRL Questions and Answers

How do I generate an iXBRL file?

• Make sure you are using a workbook created in the December 2010 edition or later
• Click on the Generate iXBRL file button on the VT toolbar in Excel
• In the Generate iXBRL file dialog just click OK. That's it! The Taxonomy setting should not normally be changed

What file format is used by iXBRL files?
iXBRL files are written in HTML, the language used by web pages. An iXBRL file can be displayed in your web browser by double clicking on it.

In addition, XBRL tags are buried within the HTML but are not visible in a standard web browser. These tags can only be seen in specialist software such as VT Fact Viewer or Corefiling’s Magnify (Corefiling are HMRC’s consultants). An iXBRL file can be opened in VT Fact Viewer by right clicking on it and choosing Open With VT Fact Viewer from the pop-up menu (or by choosing the Open command from within VT Fact Viewer itself).

HMRC's computers only see the tagged items that are shown with a yellow background in VT Fact Viewer. However, if your accounts or tax computation are ever reviewed by a human being at HMRC, they will see all the text that you normally expect to see in a set of accounts or computation (as shown on the Document tab of VT Fact Viewer or in a web browser).

Do I have to tag customisations to the VT templates?
See VT's tagging guide

How do I tag customisations or DIY accounts in Excel?
See VT's tagging guide

What do I do with an iXBRL accounts file?
An iXBRL accounts file can be attached to most third party corporation tax packages in a similar manner to a pdf file. An iXBRL accounts file can also be attached to the HMRC filing tool. More info on the HMRC filing tool and other tax packages...

Can I generate an iXBRL tax computation file using VT?
Yes. Since the June 2011 edition, the company workbooks have contained a simple tax computation. The tax computation consists of three sheets (TaxCompData, TaxComp and CapAllow) that appear towards the end of the workbook.

A tax comp iXBRL file is generated separately to the accounts iXBRL file by clicking on the Generate iXBRL File button and choosing the Tax Computation option. The tax computation is normally prepared in the same workbook as the accounts. However, this does not have to be the case because the iXBRL files are two separate files.

Most corporation tax filing packages already include a corporation tax computation but you may find it more convenient to use the one in VT. This is particularly true for the HMRC filing tool. You will need to attach two files to your tax package if you use VT's tax comp (the accounts iXBRL file and the tax comp iXBRL file).

You can also tag your own corporation tax computation in Excel using the Set Tag (Easy) and Set Tag (Comprehensive) buttons, provided you have the June 2011 issue 1 edition or later installed.

I'm having problems attaching an iXBRL accounts file to my Corporation Tax package
See the support topic on this.

What about filing the abbreviated accounts with Companies House?
You can still send these on paper to Companies House. By December 2012, VT hope to have included on-line filing with Companies House in VT Final Accounts. See support topic.

How fast is it to use the HMRC/Companies House filing tool?
It is a bit of a fiddle adjusting the security settings in Adobe Reader, but that is a one-off exercise and HMRC's instructions are very good. If you use the tool to import both the iXBRL accounts and tax computation files then it is reasonably fast to use. The tool however is not designed for use by agents. Tip: in the filing tool you need to say no to the questions Do you want to use the accounts service and Do you want to use the computations service. You can then attach the iXBRL files generated by VT.

Why are Excel 1997 and Excel 2000 no longer supported?
Excel 2002 was the first version of Excel that contained programming features that enabled custom data to be associated with a cell. VT have used this facility to store the XBRL tagging information for each applicable cell. See screenshot. The VT set up program does not allow you to install to Excel 2000 or earlier. If you save a tagged workbook in Excel 2000 or earlier the tagging data will be lost.

Why is the detailed profit and loss account not tagged?
Under the minimum tagging rules there is no requirement to tag the detailed profit and loss account until April 2013. See also The conundrum of the detailed profit and loss account

When I review my iXBRL file in VT Fact Viewer, some of the cells I was expecting to be tagged are not. Why is this?
See the support topic...

I have customised my workbook. Do I need to tag my changes?
Customisations do not currently need to be tagged. See the tagging guide.

Can VT Final Accounts produce an iXBRL file that is not valid?
VT Final Accounts is designed so that it can only produce technically valid iXBRL. VT will always either give you an error message or produce a valid file. This does not mean to say that the tags are the correct ones, just that they will get past HMRC's computers.

What do HMRC do with the iXBRL file?
VT understands (but cannot be sure) that the tagged data is automatically analysed and the accounts given a risk assessment score. This is used to create a pool of cases that may then be investigated further. It hard to know how many of the potential 100,000 usable tag combinations in the full UK GAAP taxonomy are looked at by the risk analysis program, but VT's guess is that it is under 1,000.

What do Companies House do with the tagged data?
Companies House will use a small handful of tags to check some mandatory wording and the presence of signatures and audit reports. The iXBRL file will then be turned into an image file without any tags for access by the public.

Why do we have to tag up accounts from a list with 100,000 different combinations when HMRC and Companies House look at so few tags?
The original idea was that accounts would be sent to HMRC in XBRL format. XBRL consists of only tags and is not human readable. The taxonomies had to cater for every conceivable item in a set of statutory accounts from quoted plc's down to the smallest company. Despite that the idea never really worked because it was still impossible to re-create a human readable set of accounts from the tags alone. HMRC's consultants then came up with the idea of burying the XBRL tags in a human readable HTML version of the accounts in what is now called iXBRL. However, HMRC still insist that the full taxonomy, designed in the pre iXBRL days, be used when the minimum tagging rules end in April 2013.