News & Views

Here's where you can air any views or issues, providing a platform for us to respond to any specific queries or suggestions that you have.

Please send through your views and suggestions – whether related specifically to our software, or concerning any wider themes such as how we communicate with you as customers. All of your feedback is circulated to the appropriate team(s) here at Sage for consideration. Your views help to shape our future offerings and develop more benefits for your practice. We reply to as many emails as possible and post answers to popular and important topics in the 'hot views section.

News

Up to and beyond April 2011 there will be numerous sound bites and news articles relating to XBRL, as well as news from us regarding software upgrades or events and communications for our customers.

This section will be constantly updated as news feeds through, so keep taking a look in order to stay up to speed.

New iXBRL-compliant Sage Corporation Tax (powered by Abacus) software now available

We're pleased to announce that our brand new iXBRL-enabled corporation tax software has now launched, and is available for your practice. It's great news for us as we launch the first half of our iXBRL software package. The second half, Sage accounts production, is currently under development and will be available later this year. Click here for further information

Webchat: iXBRL and your practice

Is your practice ready for iXBRL? How will you remain compliant? What about your clients? On 27 July at 11am, AccountingWEB.co.uk editor John Stokdyk will be hosting an online iXBRL forum along with experts from Sage Accountants' Division as they answer your questions surrounding iXBRL and how it will affect your practice. Sign up here

Sage Corporation Tax continues to achieve outstanding online filing success rates

The latest corporation tax online filing stats released by HMRC, for May 2010, are great news for Sage. Our Sage Corporation Tax (powered by Abacus) software solutions achieved a combined 97.99% success rate for first-time online submissions - and this rises to a 99.64% success rate where users try again and successfully file.

These compare well to a combined 94.66% for other third parties (excluding Sage), and 89.95% for HMRC's own product.

This news couldn't have come at a better time for Sage, with the launch of our new iXBRL-compliant Sage Corporation Tax (powered by Abacus) v5.00 due at the end of July 2010.

Source: hmrc.gov.uk

XBRL - when to tag, how to tag, what to tag

At Sage we've been speaking to several accountants who have found a particular HMRC white paper on XBRL tagging extremely useful. It makes it clear what you need to do regarding XBRL/iXBRL for both corporation tax and final accounts, and lists all the options available to you going forward in terms of XBRL compliance.

You can read the HMRC XBRL tagging white paper here.

Sage software receives HMRC recognition for iXBRL

Sage Corporation Tax (powered by Abacus) has been granted HMRC recognition for:

• Production and submission of iXBRL tax computations
• Submission of iXBRL accounts

This is a great milestone for us at Sage and one that we've been working extremely hard on. We hope it's one of the many ways that demonstrates our ongoing commitment to XBRL compliance — and our over-arching theme of keeping 'XBRL under control'.

Sage Guide to iXBRL

We recently posted our Sage Guide to iXBRL; talking about what XBRL is, what the impact is on the industry and when it's all happening — plus how we're developing our software in-line with HMRC to ensure effortless compliance. View Sage Guide to iXBRL

Sage XBRL Usability and Design Panel

Want to help shape the future of Sage software for accountants, as we move towards XBRL functionality?

The Sage XBRL Usability and Design Panel is a communitiy of accountants who will help inform how we develop our accounts production and corporation tax software in-line with changes from HMRC and Companies House. Click here to join the Sage XBRL community today.

Sage joins XBRL UK

We recently became a member of the organisation 'XBRL UK'.

Why? Mainly so that we have direct contact with those producing and implementing the XBRL specifications and taxonomies and, from that, a quick and deeper appreciation of the issues involved in supporting XBRL in Sage products.  The membership includes the ICAEW, HMRC, Companies House and major accounting practices.

We also expect to quickly and efficiently add to our existing knowledge base of XBRL during the coming development of electronic filing of accounts for Corporation Tax returns.

Read a quick summary on who XBRL UK are

Recent updates to XBRL taxonomies

XBRL UK are preparing the ground for the future large-scale take up of electronic filing to HMRC by updating existing taxonomies and issuing new ones.

Recently, they issued the 2009 updates to the accounts taxonomies for:

• UK GAAP
• UK-IFRS

The taxonomies are final versions and are based on reporting regulations as announced by 1 September 2009.

An all-new taxonomy was issued for UK Banking.  This supports reporting in XBRL by financial organisations filing under IFRS regulations.  It is an extension to the main UK-IFRS taxonomy.

HMRC also have been active and have issued details of the minimum tagging requirements for the 2009 versions of the UK GAAP and UK-IFRS accounts taxonomies.

Further information can be found on the XBRL UK website

Electronic Tax Filing

Want to know what the changes to corporation tax electronic filing mean — for you, your clients and software providers? Our own Andy Laver recently posted a response on AccountingWEB.com. Read the article here

XBRL FAQs

In response to numerous concerns and queries from accountants across the UK, HMRC have posted their own Q&A document for thos frequently asked questions. Read the document in full at their website