Submitting Financial Statements to Revenue in iXBRL Format

eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, is a global standard for exchanging company information electronically. It works by assigning labels to financial statement data that correspond to standard accounting or tax concepts.

XBRL is a system of tags and numbers. Inline XBRL (iXBRL) enhances this by allowing the documents to be presented in a format that is both computer-readable and human-readable.

When companies in Ireland need to submit financial statements, they use iXBRL as part of their CT1 tax return through the Revenue Online Service (ROS). The benefit of using iXBRL is that companies do not need to fill out the CT1 ‘Extracts from Accounts’ section.

However, certain mandatory items must be included in the iXBRL file to ensure no information is lost. Before understanding the inclusions and exclusions of iXBRL submission to Revenue Ireland, let’s understand who needs to submit the financial statements in this format. 

Who is Mandated to Submit Financial Statements in iXBRL?

The following businesses must submit their financial statements to Revenue Ireland in the iXBRL format:

• Large corporate division companies for accounting periods ending on or after 31 December 2012.
• Special purpose vehicles for accounting periods ending on or after 31 July 2013.
• Other corporation tax filers for accounting periods ending on or after 31 December 2013 unless the following conditions are met:
  • Total assets (before deducting liabilities) are less than € 4.4 million.
  • Turnover less than € 8.8 million.
  • 50 or fewer average number of employees.

Companies and sole traders who are not required to submit iXBRL financial statements have the option to do so voluntarily. 

How to File iXBRL Reports and What to Include?

Companies must file their financial statements in iXBRL format through ROS. All items in these statements must be fully tagged. Some of the items that should be included are as follows:

• A director’s report
• An auditor’s report
• A profit and loss statement with other comprehensive income
• Balance sheet (a statement of the company’s financial position)
• A cash flow statement
• A statement of changes in equity
• A detailed profit and loss account

Since iXBRL filers do not need to complete the CT1 ‘Extracts from Accounts’ section, they are required to tag certain mandatory items in their iXBRL submissions. These mandatory items are listed below:

• DPL Turnover Revenue
• DPL Government Grant Income
• DPL Other Operating Income
• DPL Gross Profit Loss
• DPL Staff Costs Employee Benefits Expense
• DPL Subcontractor Costs
• DPL Profit Loss Before Tax
• Equity 

Detailed Profit and Loss Account (DPL)

The format of profit and loss accounts mandated by the Companies Act lacks the detail needed by Revenue Ireland. As a result, every iXBRL return filed since 1 December 2015 must include a fully tagged Detailed Profit and Loss (DPL) statement. This requirement applies to all companies, even those not governed by the Companies Act. 

Taxonomies Accepted by Revenue Ireland

A taxonomy is a dictionary that connects each tag to the specific accounting or tax concept it represents. Revenue accepts iXBRL financial statements that have been tagged using the following taxonomies:

Technical Information – Validations and Testing

Revenue Ireland validates iXBRL financial statements upon upload. If the submission does not pass validation, businesses will receive a notification in their Revenue Online Service (ROS) inbox outlining the errors. To avoid this, businesses should use the iXBRL test facility to ensure the files are correct before submitting.

If you are looking to file error-free iXBRL reports with Revenue Ireland, DataTracks can be your best choice. The experts have 19+ years of experience in preparing compliant reports. Contact us TODAY!