Companies 'not ready for online filing'

E-filing is mandatory for corporation tax returns from 31 March 2011, but 93% of firms have done little or no planning to meet the requirements set by HMRC, according to a Big Four company.

New poll results from Deloitte show that only 4% of companies have chosen a solution or service provider to meet the e-filing requirements set by the Revenue, while 44% have done no planning and 49% have only started to assess solutions.

In respect of e-filing accounts, 22% of companies are considering outsourcing the function in the short term. By comparison, 75% of firms in the USA outsourced this process in the first year, enabling them to delay purchase decisions until the market had matured.

As well as compulsory online CT returns, businesses in the UK will be obliged to tag tax computations and statutory financial accounts using iXBRL. Only 21% of more than 100 respondents said they saw the move to iXBRL as a driver to transform their accounts preparation process, and 71% saw it as an additional step in the compliance process.

Andy Gwyther, tax partner at Deloitte, said, ‘Many firms are either unsure of the direction in which they should proceed or are opting for the first solution presented to them, whether suitable or not.’

Bearing in mind the Accounting Standard Board’s proposals for the future of UK GAAP as well as the move to e-filing, Mr Gwyther recommended ‘a two stage strategy, tactically complying with HMRC’s “soft landing” in the short term, alongside improving the accounts process and tax compliance process over the next two to three years’.

Issue: 4254 / Categories: News , Admin , Companies