The SEC has finally announced what will be happening regarding the use of US GAAP taxonomies for its mandatory XBRL program.  The following was posted on the SEC website today:

** The US GAAP 2009 Taxonomies are in the process of being loaded into the EDGAR system and will be available for use on July 22, 2009. We strongly encourage companies to begin working with this new taxonomy now — it is publicly available at .

Companies should use the latest available taxonomy for their entire fiscal year. However, due to the timing of the US GAAP 2009 taxonomy being made available, companies will be permitted to use the U.S. GAAP 1.0 taxonomy in their first required submission before switching to the US GAAP 2009 taxonomy.

This creates a very interesting dilemma for companies under the gun for the first round of filings.  Do they create returns with an obsolete taxonomy (the 2008 US GAAP taxonomy) or wait until July 22 to file with the SEC?  I wonder how this will affect companies who want to send their second quarter returns into the SEC prior to July 22nd.  If they do file with the 2008 taxonomy as permitted (see above) will their filing be comparable with companies who wait and use the 2009 taxonomy?  Will they file amendments to the filings to update to the 2009 taxonomy?  Oh so many questions.  I cant wait for the SEC’s webcast on Wednesday.