salve-dimob: merging, editing and validating DIMOB filings
A web tool that does in minutes what the official programme forced people to do by hand over several hours. All processing runs in the user's own browser.
The problem
DIMOB is the annual return that property companies in Brazil file with the federal tax authority, declaring their real-estate activity. The file is a fixed-width text format with several record types: opening data, lettings, construction and development, and sales brokerage.
The official programme accepts the return but does nothing to help you assemble it. It will not merge files, it will not import from a spreadsheet, and it will not let you correct records in bulk. For my client that meant entering records one at a time, by hand, inside the programme itself. A return of a few hundred lines took several hours, and every correction meant walking the same path again.
What the tool does
It imports existing DIMOB files, spreadsheets and JSON, merges them into a single set, and presents each record type on its own tab, editable as a table. At the end it exports back to the DIMOB format ready for filing, or to a spreadsheet if there is still reviewing to do.
A template spreadsheet is available to download, for anyone who would rather prepare the data in Excel and import it in one go. Sequential record numbering is recalculated on export, including the older five-digit format that some cases still require.
The tool
Importing
The page opens empty, waiting for files. It accepts the DIMOB text format, spreadsheets and JSON, and several files can be merged at once.
Correcting in a table
Once loaded, records are separated by type. Each row is editable in place, with pagination for large returns. Export is always one click away, to DIMOB or to a spreadsheet.
Privacy by construction
A DIMOB return contains names, tax identification numbers and transaction values. Sending that to someone else's server to be processed would be asking people to trust without any reason to.
The tool reads and writes the files entirely in the browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is no account to create and there are no cookies. Anyone can check that claim for themselves by opening the browser's network tab and confirming that not a single request leaves while they work.
The library that reads and writes the DIMOB format is published as open source, separately from the site. The site itself is not open.
Outcome
A job of several hours now takes minutes. Because the tool is free and publicly available, it is no longer tied to the client who prompted it and serves any company in the sector with the same problem.