IRIS Spring 2021 Product Update
Overview
COVID-19 has been a challenging time for many accountants and businesses, it has not just impacted our lives in terms of restrictions, but new government schemes has meant more work for accountants both in assisting clients navigating the complexities of new schemes to the reporting of these schemes. This is something that will continue over the coming years so as with all IRIS Releases we are looking at how we can help make these new demands, easier to comply with and reduce the impact on your productivity.
Accounts Production
It is now possible to prepare Revised Financial Statements. This functionality includes new data screen sections:
- Options: Provides the ability to amend the default wording ‘Revised’ to something different.
- Revision by Replacement: This will include the default wording ‘Revised’ or alternative on the Flysheet but will also allow the wording to appear on key pages where needed.
- Revision by Supplementary Note: Generates a supplementary note which will appear before the Flysheet (specific report mnemonic is RSN). Includes an Approval and Authorisation Data Screen for the Revised Financial Statements.
Revised Financial Statements functionality is now available for most account formats and associated accounting standards. Currently electronic submission of Revised Accounts is not permissible, and the software will prevent this from happening if an attempt is made.
Following similar changes included the Autumn 2020 release for Limited Companies LLP’s, Groups and Pension scheme accounts. Incorporated and Unincorporated charity accounts now include updated sections in the Audit Report, specifically for Conclusions relating to Going Concern, this being split in into 3 new data screens that will allow you to include additional text over and above text prescribed by the standards. The 3 screens are:
- Explanation of Evaluation of Management Assessment
- Key Observations Arising re Evaluation
- Additional Replacement Text
These changes are applicable for Accounting periods starting on or after 15th December 2019.
If you require access to the old layout these can be triggered from the Old Legislation section within the Data Screens.
We have removed the disclosure exemption for the requirements of FRS 102 Section 4 Statements of Financial position paragraph 4.12(a)(iv). We have also removed reference to the section number as FRS 102 now only refers to the paragraph numbers. The changes will be visible for accounting periods starting on or after 1st January 2019. Again, the older layout can still be triggers from the Old Legislation section within the Data Screens.
From within the Data Screens Notes to the Financial Statements Section we have included two new freeform Data Screens, Freeform Note A appears just after the Statutory information note and Freeform Note B, appears after Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements. This provides some additional flexibility in reporting disclosure with this FRS.
We have now updated the Charities to include the same Revaluation Data Screens as normal Limited Company formats.
The new Revaluation screens appear for charity accounts with a period end date of 31 March 2021 and for Academies with a period end date of 31 August 2021.
Charities Revaluation notes have been made taggable for iXBRL submission purposes.
The regulatory changes in 2018 introduced the concept of an annual Implementation Statement in which trustees set out how and the extent to which the SIP has been followed during the year.
The trustees of the relevant schemes are required to include a new Implementation Statement relating to the scheme’s investment in their annual report for accounts produced on or after 1 October 2020.
New data screens have been added for Pensions to accommodate inclusion of an Implementation Statement.
Company Secretarial/Company Formations
When changing a name or forming an entity it is mandatory that the new name must not be the same or similar to an existing Company or LLP on the Companies House Register. As part of this release both Desktop Company Secretarial and Company Formations software products will now be using the latest Companies House API to help ensure and validate company names are unique to minimise the possibility of rejection at Companies House.
As part this release, we have included the latest Companies House schema for electronic incorporations. This schema update removes the need to add a separate Memorandum of Association when using the Incorporation Options screen as this document will now be created by Companies House. If an external document is attached the Memorandum of Association should not be included.
After a successful incorporation the new Certificate of Incorporation document will be accompanied by the Memorandum of Association. From the 19th May 2021 Companies House will be retiring the older variant and so this release must be installed to maintain electronic submission functions of forms IN01 and LLIN01.
Tax
IRIS Elements SmartTax is the first of many features to enhance the desktop products powered by the IRIS Elements cloud platform. This feature provides a live “real-time” calculation which will return instant results from the data entered for the selected client without the need to run any additional reports.
This feature is currently in its beta phase and is available to any existing Personal Tax user. The 1st phase of this delivery will cater for all taxpayer scenarios, unless the following income is entered:Trading Income, Foreign Income, Capital Gains
Once these income types have been fully tested, we will switch them on so that they are supported in the live tax calculation. If you wish to take part in this public beta and get early access to SmartTax please contact us at beta@IRIS.co.uk stating your desire to have SmartTax switched on for your practice together with your practice name and customer reference number.
New supplementary page (CT600L) for Research and Development claims
HMRC have released a new supplementary form which is required to be completed when claiming a research and development tax credit (SME and RDEC). The addition of this form will not require any additional input from you. IRIS automatically completes the CT600(L) as you undertake the usual data entry workflow for claiming a R&D claim, once completed IRIS will automatically attach the CT600(L) for submission to HMRC.
Capital allowances.
The capital allowance module has been updated to allow you to identify as asset as a ‘Zero emission Car’, IRIS will automatically select the corresponding allowance, where the asset is added as a motor vehicle with zero Co2 emissions. This will be reflected on the computation and mapped to the new fields on the CT600.
The product has been updated to cater for all the different types of coronavirus support schemes which are required to be reported on the self-assessment tax return, along with the functionality to report incorrectly claimed grants. This information will be reflected on SA return and schedules of data. These grants can be categorised into two types: HMRC Coronavirus support scheme payments and Self-Employed income support scheme grant (SEISS)
Tax Legislation and annual updates:
- Updated Dividends databases
- Updates to SA100, SA800, SA900, R40, and CT600 forms
- Updates to e-checklists for 2020/21
- All the updated reports, calculations and rates for the 2020/21 tax year
- Updates to Capital Allowances
Update Timesheet postings on the go
A new feature has been added to IRIS Time and Fees that allows users to apply timesheet postings to their time ledger, whilst the user is still in their timesheet. This offers a greater degree of flexibility to users who wish to be able to report and process WIP postings as soon as they are made. This feature comes with the following changes:
- An option to turn the feature on (under Time Ledger Option) entitled Practice Can update Open Timesheets.
- A new staff privilege to allow a staff member to update timesheets that are open.
- A Refresh button on the Timesheet, so that users can see which timesheet postings have been applied to the time ledger.
Performance improvements
Several changes have been made to IRIS Time and Fees to improve the overall performance of the product including: Warning message “Apply Current Instructions to the Ledger” will now only appear for user that have the necessary permissions to update the time ledger.
- You can now schedule a Time and Fees repair to take place. Note: this requires the assistance of the IRIS Support team to setup.
- Central processes for IRIS Time and Fees (Such as Updating the Time ledger, closing a Time or Fees period etc.) will now run one at a time.
- Improvements have been made to the warning messages within IRIS Time and Fees to give a clear indication of the cause of the issue and the necessary actions that need to take place to resolve the issue.
