Introduction

If you are generating iXBRL Accounts which are to be submitted electronically to HMRC as part of a CT600 tax submission, it is now possible to initiate a test submission from the Accounts template which will connect to HMRC’s live filing gateway and run a full test submission of your iXBRL Accounts. 

This validation process makes use of HMRC’s Test In Live service which will run all of the same validation checks that are performed against the iXBRL accounts when a live submission is performed, but will not persist any data to HMRC’s back-end systems and will therefore not lodge a submission with HMRC.

Caseware Collaborate

To facilitate the test service, Caseware uses a web hosted application called Caseware Collaborate. 

You must have access to a valid Caseware Collaborate instance before you can access the test submission service.

Any Caseware user that wishes to perform a test submission must have a valid login to the Collaborate instance and be assigned the necessary permissions to create a test submission with HMRC. 

To create a test submission the user must either be defined as a Collaborate administrator or be assigned the Create CT-600 Submission permission using the Collaborate permission system as shown below:

Performing a Test Submission

After exporting your iXBRL accounts in the usual way - and assuming that Collaborate has been configured correctly - you will now have the option to perform a test submission with HMRC.  This is available via a button on the Export Status screen which is displayed at the end of the iXBRL export process.

Note: Test submissions are done via cloud so there is need to integrate with cloud before attempting the following steps. See the following article on how to integrate with cloud here.

Clicking the button will show the Cloud and integration status.  

HMRC Authentication Details

As the test submission process uses the live HMRC filing service, you will be prompted for your HMRC authentication details that allow you to connect to HMRC’s Corporation Tax filing service. 

If you don’t know your authentication details you will need to obtain them either from your tax department or from HMRC.

In addition to your HMRC username and password, you must also provide the Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) for the company whose accounts you are validating.

Gateway Communication dialogue

Once you have entered your HMRC authentication details, Caseware will connect to the HMRC filing gateway and perform the test submission. 

The Gateway Communication dialogue will be displayed and will inform you of the status of your test submission.

 The Gateway Communication dialogue will upload the iXBRL accounts to the HMRC test service and then wait for the response to be returned. 

It can sometimes take a minute or two to get a response from HMRC depending on how busy the HMRC servers are.