Chartered Accountants Ireland as a member of the TALC iXBRL subgroup met with Revenue to discuss developments with the iXBRL project and specifically Revenue's response to five proposals from the Institute to incentivise iXBRL filers.

The five proposals and Revenue's responses are as follows:

1. That there will be a response to our submission to reduce the look-back period for iXBRL filers

Revenue will respond formally to the CCAB-I position. At this stage they would like to continue engagement on the proposals made by CCAB-I but Revenue is not in a position to make any commitment in 2013. The submission is published on the Chartered Accountants Ireland website.

2. Revenue customer services targets of a five working day turnaround for Corporation Tax repayment claims be implemented for companies filing under iXBRL

Revenue will not guarantee that all repayment claims for such taxpayers will be processed within five working days. Currently LCD is reviewing their repayment procedures to identify reasons for delay and scope for increasing turnaround times. iXBRL is anticipated to improve the turnaround of repayment claims by Revenue, however if this will be within the five day period is unknown at this stage. Revenue agreed to report on the success of iXBRL in reducing the repayment period at an appropriate point in the future.

3. Our request that the current proposed moratorium on the application of surcharges and penalties which could arise from iXBRL miscoding will be extended from 1 year to 2 years

Revenue have agreed to extend the moratorium period to two years from mandation for each class of taxpayer. However, this applies to potential penalties only for filing incorrect iXBRL accounts and does not impact the other sanctions in the Tax Code.

4. Confirmation that there will be no increase in the likelihood of audit for companies filing under iXBRL

Under the optional iXBRL filing facility Revenue confirmed that there will be no increase in the likelihood of audit selection. However, for mandatory iXBRL filers, Revenue intend to use iXBRL information for their risk profiling and audit selection cases. Whether this results in an increase in audit selection is unknown but Revenue expects to be in a position to reduce unnecessary verification checks etc. for iXBRL filers.

5. Confirmation that there will be no extension to mandatory iXBRL filing without reference to the additional pressures on practitioners arising in 2014 due to the changes in Budget Dates and the coming into operation of the new Self-Assessment rules

Revenue acknowledges the additional changes for taxpayers from the new self-assessment system and potential new filing regime. There will be a level of flexibility in further iXBRL mandation and Revenue's iXBRL team will liaise with other relevant areas of Revenue and with practitioner bodies to ensure that the aggregate impact of any changes is managed in way that recognises practitioner interests.

We continue to engage with Revenue on the iXBRL project and will cover developments in tax.point as appropriate. Visit Chartered Accountants Ireland's iXBRL centre at www.charteredaccountants.ie/ixbrl for further information.