What's new in IRIS Elements

Find out about the changes we've made.

You can also check our known issues, fixes and what's coming soon.

2022 | Jan 23| Feb 23| Mar 23| Apr 23| May 23 | Jun 23| Jul 23 | Aug 23 | Sep 23 | Oct 23 | Nov 23 | Dec 23

December 2023

Limited Company Capital Allowance data entry added for IRIS Elements Tax Essentials

We've introduced the ability to enter capital allowances to the tax return to allow for the full financial position to be reflected.

Product subscription required: IRIS Elements Tax Essentials.

Simplified data entry for trades below the VAT threshold

We have reduced the complexity of data entry when adding individual tax returns for trades below the VAT threshold. Now you only need to enter total expenses, not a breakdown of said expenses.

Product subscription required: IRIS Elements Tax Essentials, IRIS Elements Tax Professional, or IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts.

AAT Accountants report now available

When preparing accounts, you can now select the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) as the practice's default.

Product subscription required: IRIS Elements Accounts Production Essentials, IRIS Elements Accounts Production Professional, or IRIS Elements Accounts.

Help menu update

We've expanded our Help menu to include links to all useful resources and moved it into the main interface header.

Including or excluding clients from AML reporting

The options to include or exclude clients from the AML reports have been moved under a dedicated Bulk update menu:

Product license required:IRIS Elements Anti Money Laundering (AML)

Client Information tab revamp

We have consolidated the various boxes available on the Client Information tab into sub-tabs for easier viewing. Functionality has not been affected.

Manage your Practice Roles

Practice roles are essentially job roles, such as account manager, partner, payroll manager, and so on, used to assign to members of your practice for that client.

You add practice roles in Settings, Configure practice roles.

The roles are assigned to practice contacts on the Information tab of the client record.

Product license required: IRIS Elements Tax Essentials, IRIS Elements Tax Professional or IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts.

Improvements to sole trader tax returns process

Following customer feedback, we are pleased to announce the Self employmentData Input section is now automatically added to new tax returns, speeding up the process.

November 2023

IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts

Following customer feedback, we have updated the Trial Balance tab to allow more information to be visible without scrolling. We've also adapted the screen to respond to changes in the internet browser zoom — reducing the zoom % it allows even more to be included on the screen.

October 2023

IRIS Elements Accounts Production

Accounts and Accounts Production most recent clients widget added to home page

Released on: 31 October 2023

We've introduced a new widget that displays the ten most recently accessed clients for the practice — for Accounts Production or Accounts products. This widget also includes the work-in-progress status for each set of accounts and the year-end date. Once you've started to prepare the accounts, selecting the client name takes you straight into Accounts Production or Accounts.

If you want to view more than ten clients, select View All in the top right to expand, and display a more dedicated view of your client’s compliance work in these products.

Product license required: IRIS Elements Accounts Production Essentials, IRIS Elements Accounts Production Professional, IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts.

Sept 2023

Released on: 14 September 2023

General

We've made the first set of many great changes to the client list. You can now:

Aug 2023

IRIS Elements Accounts Production Essentials and IRIS Elements Accounts Production Professional

Updated FRS 105 Non-Statutory Detail Profit and Loss Account Report

Released on: 25 August 2023

Following a customer request, the non-stat detailed P&L is now aligned with the report produced by standard FRS102 s1a. This is helpful when explaining accounts to clients.

Disable report generation in Accounts Builder tab

Released on: 11 August 2023

The Accounts Builder tab will now remain disabled for a particular year or period until the Entity Setup is tab is completed. This restriction has been introduced to avoid Limited Company accounts being generated without having an appropriate accounting standard applied.

Released on: 11 August 2023

IRIS Elements Accounts Production (any level)

We've made some improvements to the Submissions tab. These improvements make it clearer that you can download the submissions file as an iXBRL or PDF file and simplify the process for submitting the accounts.

Find out more: Submit accounts

IRIS Elements Anti Money Laundering (AML)

You can now run AML checks on non-clients.

July 2023

Released on: 31 July 2023

IRIS Elements Practice Management

Client portal notifications - when a client completes a task, adds a comment or signs a document, adds a comment or question, you will now receive a notification in IRIS Elements, together with an email.

IRIS Elements Anti Money Laundering (AML)

We've introduced an AML audit tab which displays a log of any changes made relating to AML checks including changes to risk level, AML check dates or reasons.

Find out more:

IRIS Elements Tax (any level), IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts, IRIS Elements Trust Tax, or IRIS Elements VAT Filer

We've added the following new features for these products:

We've introduced a VAT obligations widget which shows VAT obligations for the current year, including the client name, status, obligation and due date.

From the widget, you can view and filter a list of the obligations, then download the list as a CSV or PDF file.

Find out more:

VAT obligations widget

View and download VAT obligations

When recording UK property information for a trust tax return, you can now add a UK property address.

Find out more: Type of trust section (SA900)

For each tax return, you can now download a PDF including the tax return and declaration for each return type.

Find out more: View or download tax return files

Released on: 23 July 2023

New product - IRIS Elements Cashbook

We've just released a new product called IRIS Elements Cashbook which is available for FREE to all subscribers of the following products:

  • IRIS Elements Accounts Production (any level).

  • IRIS Elements Tax (any level)

  • IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts

IRIS Elements Cashbook helps sole traders efficiently record and track their income and expenditure online - without you needing to subscribe to another product. It also includes our market leading payment service IRIS Pay (opens in a new tab) to collect client payments efficiently.

It's used to record key information required to submit self-assessment tax returns directly to HMRC and, you can use your sole trader's trial balance to attach to a tax return in IRIS Elements.

Find out more: IRIS Elements Cashbook

May 2023

Released on: 30 May 2023

General

For any clients imported directly from Xero, you can now view sales ledger information on the Xero sales ledger tab on their client record, including invoices raised, invoices paid, outstanding balance, etc. a copy of their sales ledger in their client record

Find out more: View Xero sales ledger data on a client record

IRIS Elements Proposal Manager

You can now specify an email address to be used for all client replies to automated messages sent via IRIS Elements Proposal Manager. This includes the ability to specify a name for the email account.

Find our more: IRIS Elements Proposal Manager email settings

Released on: 2 May 2023

New products

We've introduced 4 new products - IRIS Elements Tax, IRIS Elements Accounts Production, IRIS Elements Trust Tax and IRIS Elements VAT Filer.

IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts will no longer be available to new customers, but existing subscriptions will continue.

IRIS Elements TaxEssentials is perfect for a startup or small practice with straightforward client needs. Visit the IRIS Marketplace (opens in a new tab) for more product information.

IRIS Elements Tax Professional is for medium practices with more complex requirements. It includes personal, corporation and partnership tax, as well as VAT filer. Visit our website (opens in a new tab) for more product information.

Find out more:

IRIS Elements Tax subscription plans

Get started with IRIS Elements Tax

IRIS Elements Accounts Production is a brand new product used to produce compliant accounts for sole traders, partnerships, limited companies (FRS 105, FRS 102 1a) and limited partnerships. Prepare final accounts from a trial balance, using manual entry or importing figures. Once prepared, the accounts can be submitted directly to Companies House.

There are currently two subscription plans - Essentials and Professional. Visit our website (opens in a new tab) for more product information.

Find out more:

IRIS Elements Accounts Production subscription plans

Get started with IRIS Elements Accounts Production

IRIS Elements Trust Tax enables return completion for a variety of trust types, including charitable and non-resident trusts. All variations of the R185 forms containing details of trust payments can be generated and distributed to beneficiaries. Visit our website (opens in a new tab) for more product information.

Find out more:

Get started with IRIS Elements Trust Tax

A simple bridging solution that helps you comply with the requirements of Making Tax Digital. Easily transfer data from spreadsheets or bookkeeping solutions via digital links before submitting on to HMRC. Visit the IRIS Marketplace (opens in a new frame) for more product information.

Find out more:

Get started with IRIS Elements VAT Filer

New features

General

You can now import your Xero contacts / customers into IRIS Elements and create client records.

Find out more: Import client data from Xero

IRIS Elements Tax and IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts

We've added the following new features for both products:

If you subscribe to both IRIS Elements Tax and IRIS Elements Accounts Production, you can choose to synchronise accounts data with the applicable tax return. You can then make changes to the data in IRIS Elements Accounts Production which are automatically updated in the tax return.

Find out more: Synchronise accounts data with a tax return

You can now toggle a Summary view on the Corporation tax widget and Self assessment tax widget to show a chart with the number of clients with a tax return in each status.

Select a status on the chart to see a list of all the clients whose tax return has that status. You can then download that list as a PDF or CSV.

Find out more:

Corporate tax returns widget

Self assessment tax returns widget

Download a list of returns as PDF and CSV files

You can download a list of self assessment or corporation client tax returns as a PDF or CSV file from the applicable home page widget.

Find out more:

Download a list of returns as PDF and CSV files

Corporate tax returns widget

Self assessment tax returns widget

Subscription to IRIS Elements Tax (Professional plan) required)

We've added the ability to apply some default settings to the tax area including:

  • what's printed at the top of the tax return (blank, tax reference or client name)
  • whether to include agent details on the tax return.
  • who tax repayments should be made to (no selection, agent or client)
  • what should be paid or received through PAYE (individuals only)

Find out more: Global default tax settings

Subscription to IRIS Elements Tax (Professional plan) required)

We've add the ability to use the averaging calculator to the Partnership section of the SA100.

Find out more: Partnership section (SA100)

Subscription to IRIS Elements Tax (Professional plan) required)

When viewing a tax return on the Tax Return tab, you can now choose to add or remove a variety of watermarks such as Confidential, Draft, Final copy, etc. This watermark will be included when printed or saved to PDF.

Find out more: Add a watermark to a tax return

New service

We've introduced a new paid service called IRIS Elements Service Plan Essentials Plus.

This service gives you access to friendly and knowledgeable analysts, who will help and guide you with any IRIS Elements queries over the phone. If you subscribe to a Professional level plan for any product, this service is included.

Find out more: IRIS Elements Service Plan Essentials Plus (opens in a new tab)

New Ideas Portal

Do you have an idea for a new feature in Elements?

Our new Ideas Portal is a public forum where you can share ideas for future enhancements to the IRIS Elements platform, as well as interact and vote on ideas submitted by other users.  Loads of great ideas have already been submitted and some have already been implemented.

Get involved now: iris.co.uk/elementsideas (opens in a new tab)

March 2023

General

Released: 7 March 2023

You can now delete client records together with any related or linked information. We recommend only deleting client records created in error.

Find out more: Delete clients

You can now delete an unwanted address (if it has not been assigned a Type (such as Primary, Billing, etc.).

Find out more: Delete a client address

You can now delete unwanted client email addresses and telephone numbers.

Find out more: Delete client contact details

You can now delete a client relationship that is no longer needed. Only the relationship is deleted, not the person the client has a relationship with.

Find out more: Delete client relationships

Free introduction webinar

Attend a free, on demand webinar to walk you through the key components of IRIS Elements, and get you up and running as soon as possible.

From uploading client data through to running AML checks, delivering proposals and producing accounts, this webinar takes you through the entire journey.

Find out more: Access our free webinar

February 2023

Released on: 24 February 2023

General

Using our integration with Capitalise, you can view your clients' business credit scores within the client record, allowing you to spot any changes early on and advise your clients on the best action to take.

Find out more: View client credit scores

IRIS Elements Practice Management

We've added the ability to connect to your client's Xero account so that you can get up-to-date overviews of their financial information.

Found in the client record, the new Xero tab displays an executive summary of your client's financial situation, while the Advisory tab pulls historical data from your client's Xero account to provide information needed to help you offer advisory services.

Find out more: Connect to a client's Xero account

Find out more: View client advisory data

January 2023

Released on: 30th January 2023

IRIS Elements Company Secretarial

We're delighted to announce the release of IRIS Elements Company Secretarial, which allows you to quickly and easily generate and submit a range of company secretarial forms to Companies House.

Where possible, the process is handled electronically, meaning you can submit vital forms such as confirmation statements in just a few clicks.

A series of triggers are built into the client record, so as you work on updating client records, forms are created and added to your list of company secretarial tasks.

Find out more: Introducing IRIS Elements Company Secretarial