International Accounting Standards Board issues Interpretation on IAS 12 Income Taxes

 07 June 2017


The International Accounting Standards Board (Board) has today issued IFRIC 23 Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments to specify how to reflect uncertainty in accounting for income taxes.

IFRIC Interpretations (Interpretations) form part of the authoritative IFRS requirements. They are developed by the IFRS Interpretations Committee to provide requirements on specific application issues and are ratified by the Board. 

It may be unclear how tax law applies to a particular transaction or circumstance, or whether a taxation authority will accept a company’s tax treatment. IAS 12 Income Taxes specifies how to account for current and deferred tax, but not how to reflect the effects of uncertainty. IFRIC 23 provides requirements that add to the requirements in IAS 12 by specifying how to reflect the effects of uncertainty in accounting for income taxes.

The Interpretation is effective from 1 January 2019 and can be accessed here. [eIFRS Professional required]