Businesses need to be aware of changes that are being made soon to the online corporation tax filing system, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has said.
Some of the changes will be happening on 23 November 2009 in preparation for the switch to a mandatory new online filing system in 2011.
As from 1 April 2011, for any accounting period ending after 31 March 2010, all company tax returns must be filed online with accompanying accounts and computations in Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language format.
As a result, HMRC are introducing software updates to their corporation tax online service which come into effect on 23 November this year.
Although the main features of the online service will remain the same, HMRC has advised, many existing filing software products that enable businesses to file company tax returns online will no longer be accepted by the HMRC system.
To file online on or after 23 November 2009, firms will need to make sure that their software incorporates the latest upgrade or it may not work properly.
Businesses are being urged to check with their software suppliers if they haven’t already done so.
HMRC added that the current corporation tax online return form will also be withdrawn and replaced with updated software on 23 November 2009.
What’s more, any data stored on the current HMRC online return must be saved to firms’ own computer systems before 19 November 2009. This is because businesses won’t be able to access their data through the HMRC corporation tax online filing service after that date.
More information about corporation tax online filing is can be found at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ct/ct-online/file-return/online.htm
