Two questions decide which XBRL instance document you file, and both are answered by the financial statements you already have on your desk.
Get either wrong and the filing is defective. Not late — defective, which is worse, because you find out after the deadline.
Question 1 — which taxonomy?
The taxonomy follows the accounting standard the accounts were prepared under. That is the whole rule.
- Accounts prepared under Ind AS — the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 → Ind AS taxonomy
- Accounts prepared under AS — the Companies (Accounting Standards) Rules → C&I taxonomy
C&I stands for Commercial and Industrial. It is the general-purpose taxonomy for companies not on Ind AS.
You do not choose. You do not opt for whichever is easier. You look at the basis of preparation note in the financial statements and it tells you.
Where to find it: the significant accounting policies note, usually the first note, under a heading like “Basis of preparation”. It will say the statements have been prepared in accordance with the Indian Accounting Standards notified under Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013, read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 — or it will refer to the Accounting Standards. If you cannot find it, your auditor can tell you in one line.
Which companies are on Ind AS?
Broadly, Ind AS applies to listed companies and to companies above certain net worth thresholds, phased in from FY 2016-17 onwards, together with their holding, subsidiary, joint venture and associate companies. Certain categories — banking, insurance and NBFCs — follow separate roadmaps.
Once a company applies Ind AS, it continues to do so, even if net worth subsequently falls below the threshold.
The precise thresholds and phasing have moved, and the answer depends on the company’s history rather than only its current numbers. If you are unsure, the accounts themselves remain the reliable source: whatever the auditor signed under is what you file under.
Question 2 — standalone, consolidated, or both?
This one also follows the accounts.
- Standalone only — the company has no subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures requiring consolidation. One instance document.
- Standalone and consolidated — the company prepares consolidated financial statements. Two instance documents, filed as AOC-4 XBRL and AOC-4 CFS.
Consolidated is filed in addition to standalone, never instead of it. Filing only the consolidated instance document is a common and entirely avoidable defect.
So which of the four combinations are you?
| Accounts prepared under | Consolidation | You file |
|---|---|---|
| AS | No | C&I standalone |
| AS | Yes | C&I standalone and C&I consolidated |
| Ind AS | No | Ind AS standalone |
| Ind AS | Yes | Ind AS standalone and Ind AS consolidated |
Why Ind AS conversions are harder
They cost more everywhere, including here, and the reason is structural rather than commercial.
More elements. The Ind AS taxonomy is substantially larger than C&I. More elements means more opportunities to select a plausible one that is not the right one.
Dimensional tagging. Ind AS makes heavier use of axes and members — segment reporting, classes of property plant and equipment, categories of financial instruments, related party categories. A value tagged with the right element but the wrong dimension is wrong, and it does not always fail validation.
The disclosures are longer. Fair value hierarchies, financial instrument categories, lease reconciliations, expected credit loss disclosures. These are where errors concentrate, and they are exactly the parts that automated mapping handles worst, because they are prose and tables rather than a standard balance sheet line.
Where XBRL filings actually go wrong
In our experience it is almost never the balance sheet. Any tool maps “Total equity” to the right element. The failures cluster in four places:
1. Notes and disclosures. The face of the financials is standardised; the notes are not. A note describing a contingent liability, a related party transaction, or a change in accounting policy has to be tagged to the element that actually means that thing — not one whose label reads similarly.
2. Blocks that should be detail-tagged. Tagging a whole note as a single text block where the taxonomy expects individual values passes validation and defeats the purpose. It is the most common shortcut, and the one that produces a technically valid, substantively useless filing.
3. Sign conventions. Elements have a defined balance — debit or credit. A negative where a positive is expected passes validation and reverses the meaning.
4. Prior year comparatives. They must be tagged against the same context and period structure. Carrying forward last year’s tagging without checking whether the taxonomy version changed is a reliable way to produce a defective filing.
A wrong tag is not a typo. It is a defective filing, and it comes back — usually after the due date, at which point the additional fee has been running at ₹100 a day.
Which MCA taxonomy version?
The MCA notifies taxonomy versions and updates them. Use the version applicable to the financial year you are filing for, not the newest one available and not the one you used last year.
Validate against the MCA validation tool and run pre-scrutiny before submission. A file that passes validation is not necessarily correct — but a file that fails it is definitely not going to be accepted.
The short answer
- Open the accounts. Read the basis of preparation note. That gives you C&I or Ind AS.
- Ask whether the company prepares consolidated financial statements. That gives you one instance document or two.
- Check the applicable taxonomy version for the financial year.
- Tag the notes as carefully as the balance sheet, because that is where the failures are.
Not sure which applies to you?
Four questions and our free checker tells you whether AOC-4 XBRL is mandatory for your company and which taxonomy you would file under. No sign-up, no email.
Or send us the accounts and we will tell you. XBRL conversion from ₹3,999 for C&I standalone and ₹5,999 for Ind AS standalone, tagged, validated, pre-scrutinised and reviewed by a qualified professional before it reaches you — and nothing is filed until you have seen the human-readable rendering and approved it.
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General information, not advice for your company. Ind AS applicability and taxonomy versions depend on facts specific to your company and the financial year concerned. Confirm the position with your auditor or with us before filing.
