Understanding iXBRL accounts and tax computations

1. Current creditors are not just supplier invoices

Choose the task you need:

• Enter assets and creditor balances.
• Enter allowance claims and cost disclosures.
• Open the accounts and computation.
• Enter dormant history and balances.

The current creditors total can include suppliers, tax and amounts owed to a director. Enter the total due within one year in that field and longer-term creditors separately. For example, £600 owed to suppliers and a £400 current director loan make £1,000 of current creditors. The aggregate is tagged as creditors, not £1,000 of trade payables. Do not add a second breakdown just to create tags.

2. Dormant this year does not mean never traded

A company may have traded in an earlier period and be dormant now. For a new dormant draft we ask about previous trading, unless its first period starts on incorporation. We use your answer in the accounts without asking for evidence. Existing drafts keep their saved behaviour and do not gain a historical-records check.

3. A first-year allowance is part of the total

If your total capital allowances are £3,500, including £500 of first-year allowance on a qualifying new zero-emission car, the deduction remains £3,500. The separate £500 disclosure explains the total. It is not another deduction. See our capital allowances guide.

4. Tagged calculations and your own workings

The computation explains the route from accounts to taxable profits. A deduction can appear in brackets while its machine-readable expense or allowance fact is positive. The meaning of the label, rather than the printed brackets, determines the fact's sign.

A non-trading director loan release has its own finance-income disclosure and loan relationship credit. We do not move it to miscellaneous income. Read our loan waiver guide and disposal workings example.

HMRC's Businesses XBRL guideexplains tagged reports. The FRC Tagging Guideexplains labels, dimensions and signs. The Company Tax Return guideexplains computation content. These references are useful with any filing software.

5. Correcting prior-year figures and dates

Comparative figures show the preceding financial year alongside this year. Use the dates those figures cover, including a short or unusually long preceding period. First accounts have no preceding financial year to show. See the accounts regulations, Schedule 1 paragraph 7.

Previous-period dates are prefilled from the Companies House record where possible. If the record cannot establish the dates, we suggest the preceding twelve months. You can continue with those dates or edit them to match your figures. A short or long previous period can have different dates from that suggestion.

If you edit the dates, complete both with the start no later than the end. The previous period must end before the current period starts. Your entered figures and edits are preserved. The existing review shows both periods before you approve the filing, without a separate date-confirmation step.

If you have corrected last year's figures, enter the corrected amounts in the previous year column. You can also add a prior year adjustment note and show As restated on that column. See prior year adjustments in micro-entity accounts.

6. Net assets (liabilities) on the balance sheet

Net assets (liabilities) means total assets less all liabilities. It equals capital and reserves. Brackets show a negative amount, meaning the company has net liabilities. For example, assets of £2,000 less liabilities of £5,000 give net liabilities of £3,000, shown as (3,000).

The wizard, import previews and Review & file show Net assets (liabilities) for this total, matching the generated accounts. The caption applies to positive, zero and negative amounts. Each year's column keeps its own figure, even when one year shows net assets and the other net liabilities. If your Corporation Tax coverage needs two returns, both carry the same accounts and balance sheet for the whole accounts period.

The wording matches the FRC taxonomy label for the net assets and liabilities fact. The micro-entity balance sheet format uses similar wording for net current assets (liabilities), but does not prescribe a separate caption for the net assets subtotal.

The caption does not change your figures or automatically add a note. The directors decide what disclosures are needed for their accounts. Read about going concern and off balance sheet notes.

This is general guidance. You remain responsible for your figures and classifications. Successful technical validation does not verify every accounting or tax judgement.