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Online Filing

Businesses and corporations can now file their company tax returns over the internet.

Online filing functionality in the software allows companies to file their tax returns (main CT600 return and all supplementary returns with accounts and computations) over the internet.

Registration with HMRC

Companies are required to register with HMRC in order to file their returns online. For more information please refer to the following HMRC website.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/online/index.htm

Preparing a return for online filing

? Finalise computation so that there are no errors or outstanding queries.

? Verify that all necessary information (including information on the P schedule such as company name, address, UTR, tax district number, signatory etc.) has been completed. Failure to complete any mandatory information may cause red errors when the user when filing it online.

? All necessary return pages need to be developed and associated supporting schedules must be completed.

? If you are filing your computation in Inline XBRL (iXBRL) format, then please make sure to tag your computation for iXBRL filing and review the results. See ?Filing in Inline XBRL Format? for more information on how to tag and review your computation for Inline XBRL filing.

? Statutory accounts in the required format (PDF or iXBRL) should be prepared before the submission.

Note that returns filed for periods ending after 31 March 2010 and filed after 31 March 2011 will need statutory accounts & computation in iXBRL format.

Filing a return

The online filing wizard will guide users through this process. The online filing wizard can be launched from the following menu:

File > File Online

The wizard will lead users through all essential stages of filing a return.

Data validations before submission

Online Filing automatically turns the flag ?Enable e-Filing validations? on the P schedule. This flag is only available from FY2006.

When this flag is turned on, various data items on the P schedule will be validated for correctness of data entered.

Some of the data items are validated as follows:

Tax District Number ( 3-digit number )
UTR ( 10-digit number )
Address Fields ( non-empty )
Postcode ( valid postcode, upper case letters )
Signatory ( non-empty )
Signatory Status ( non-empty )

Red-errors will be shown if any of these validations on P schedule failed. Please correct the data format to re-submit or reset the ?Enable e-Filing validations? flag to clear these errors.

If you file a return online and receive an error response with an error code and message 9200 - An original Return has already been submitted for this Accounting Period, this maybe because the HMRC response was not received and so the software will not have recorded the original online filing submission. You can now mark the return as amended by changing the 'Amended e-filing?' selector in the P schedule to 'Yes'. Note in most circumstances there will be no need to use this selector because the software will have logged the original submission.

Statutory accounts attachments

You will be able to attach the statutory accounts in iXBRL or PDF format. These can be from an existing linked document (?Add Linked Document?) or from a disk drive (?Add From Disk?).

If the iXBRL statutory accounts is a document set (more than one document), then you will need to select the ?Index? page to attach and will subsequently be prompted to attach other html documents in the folder. You can attach all other documents by clicking ?Yes? to the prompt or if there is only one document in the iXBRL accounts, you can click ?No?.

If statutory accounts are not included in the submission, you are required to provide a valid reason by choosing ?No accounts? and selecting the appropriate reason from the allowed list.

Computation and other attachments

You can also choose the format in which you want to file the computations. The following options are available:

• iXBRL ? The wizard will create and submit the computation in iXBRL format. Please refer to the ?Filing in iXBRL? section for details on how to review, add or amend tags.
• PDF ? The wizard will create and submit the computation in PDF format.
• iXBRL (include PDF as attachment) ? The wizard will create and submit the computation in iXBRL format and will also create and include it in PDF format as a supporting document. If the tagging wizard has not yet been run on the computation, selecting this option will launch the tagging wizard automatically on the next step.

Any other additional attachments can be added to the supporting documents list using the ?Add Linked Document? and ?Add From Disk? options.

Summary of Submission Contents

You will be presented with a summary of documents that have been chosen for submission.

The return information will be processed into a format (XML) that can be used during online filing. If the translation process is successful, users will be taken to the next stage. If the translation failed, users should contact the help desk.

Alternatively, you can choose to save this submission package and submit it at a later time.

Filing the return to HMRC

The next stage is filing the return to HMRC gateway. The user will require HMRC logon credentials (namely a user id and password) that were provided during the registration process. The unique tax reference (UTR) entered in the return should also match with the UTR in the HMRC records for the given user credentials. User will have to type the user credentials before submission. Users can check the ?Remember credentials? check box to make the filing wizard remember these credentials. They can uncheck the box to remove the remembered login details if required.

The online filing wizard will then request the user to attach PDF copies of Computation and Accounts. Please note the order and if it is ?Locate Computation? or ?Locate Accounts? when attaching the PDF files. Click Next to continue filing.

Before filing the information, the wizard checks for possible validation errors. If there are any, the submission will terminate with an error message. You can close the wizard, correct the errors and repeat the submission. If the information passes the validation, it will be submitted and you will be taken to the next screen.

Submission Validations

There are various validations that take place before a return is filed. In all cases below, the wizard will terminate the submission and show an error page stating which type of validation failed and why.

1. Schema Validation ? Return information validated for correctness against the schema.
2. Business Rule Validation ? Return information is verified against HMRC business rules offline.
3. Inline XBRL Validation ? If the computation attachment is in iXBRL, the iXBRL document set attached is also validated first against the XHTML schema. If successful, the target XBRL document is extracted and validated for correctness against the XBRL schemas.  

Retrieving response from HMRC

In this stage the wizard will try to retrieve a response from the HMRC gateway by making repeated requests for a receipt confirmation.

If it can?t retrieve a response after 60 seconds (say, when the HMRC systems are down) the wizard will automatically time-out. In these circumstances, you are advised to try again a few hours/days later. If in doubt, please call the help desk. This does not necessarily mean that the filing has been unsuccessful.

Status of submissions can be checked using Tools > Application Tools > Check status of latest eFiling at any later stage.

A HMRC response will fall into one of the following categories.

Success response

A success response indicates that the return has been successfully filed. The following text will be returned as a response.

Submission accepted, no further action required

Any subsequent submissions (after at least one successful submission) will be treated as an amended return and will duly override its predecessors.

A successful submission stores the response as a receipt for the submission. The name of the receipt is of the format ?FileName_Receipt.xml? (e.g. MyReturn05_Receipt.xml). You should keep the receipt as proof of submission. Any amended submission which is successful will overwrite the receipt. So, if you want to retain every receipt, you will have to archive it accordingly.

Submission & Review Packages

If the submission was successful, the submission and review packages will be saved in the same location as the file being submitted. They are saved as ZIP files under SubmissionPackages and ReviewPackages subfolders respectively.

Printing PDF with IRmark

If the submission were successful, you can also save a PDF copy of the submitted computation and return using the ?Save a PDF copy of this return with IRmark? option on the responses page.

Error response

Submissions can fail due to various reasons as described in this section.

1. Authentication failure:

Using incorrect submission credentials to file a return will lead to an authentication failure. Authentication failure (see below) indicates that the user id and/or password used is either incorrect or does not match the UTR used in the return.

2. Business Validation Rules (BVR):

Business validation rules are put in place to check the integrity and correctness of the submitted data. They flag up inaccuracies in the return. The BVR errors usually refer to the inaccuracy and section of the return that caused the error.

An erroneous submission stores the error response as an error log. The name of the receipt is of the format ?FileName_Err.xml? (e.g. MyReturn05_Err.xml). This error log is automatically saved (in XML format) for review.

Return can be filed again after reviewing the errors. Subsequent error logs will overwrite the old ones.

3. Common Failures

Error 9199 - Dormant companies cannot be filed online.

Error 9500 - Filename of PDF attachments contains invalid characters.

Error 9499 - Attached file has been identified to contain a virus. Please check your attachments.

Mandatory data fields

Mandatory fields are those that are required for a main/supplementary return to be filed successfully. The following section explicitly indicates the data items that must be present in a return for it to be filed online successfully.

CT600 ? Main return

Following fields in the P schedule are mandatory.

• Company Address
• Postcode
• Tax District Number
• UTR
• Name of signatory
• Designation

Available for online filing from FY 2002

CT600A ? Loans to Participators

Column H, ?Date of repayment or release or write off? in the Loans to participators (A50) schedule must be filled if either Column F or G is non zero.

Available for online filing from FY 2004

CT600B ? Controlled Foreign Companies (Comps from FY2004)

Available for online filing from FY 2004

CT600C ? Group and Consortium

1. Old computations from FY 2002 & FY 2003 must erase and redevelop the CT600C schedules. The following schedules need to be copied, erased, redeveloped and populated again with copied data.

• Amounts claimed as Group Relief ? P6
• Amounts surrendered as Group Relief ? P7
• Amounts claimed as EUFT ? P8
• Amounts surrendered as EUFT ? P9

No need to do this for returns from FY2004.

2. Available for online filing from FY 2002

CT600D ? Insurance

1. CT600D form is of free format. Users can enter data into the form pages directly.

2. Available for online filing from FY 2004

CT600E ? Charity

1. CT600E form is of free format. Users can enter data into the form pages directly.

2. Following fields are mandatory

Charity Registration Number (note the format ? 6 digits)

Charity Repayment Reference (note the format)

Check the relevant check box in page 1 (note either/or).

3. Available for online filing from FY 2004

CT600F ? Tonnage Tax

Available for online filing from FY 2004

CT600G ? Corporate Venturing Relief

1. CT600G form is of free format. Users can enter data into the form pages directly. However, if the returns have data entered in them directly, users cannot electronically submit the computation.

2. Users must instead develop the ?Corporate Venturing Relief? schedule from A schedule and complete it. This will enable them to electronically file the computation. They must erase and redevelop the schedule.

3. Available for online filing from FY 2004.

CT600H ? Corporate Venturing Relief

Available for online filing from FY2005

CT600I ? Supplementary charge for ring-fence trades

Available for online filing from FY2005

CT600J ? Disclosure of Tax Avoidance schemes

Available for online filing from FY2005