If you use Tally Prime Release 3.0 or later, GST reconciliation is built into the software. Instead of exporting your purchase register to a separate spreadsheet, you can load GSTR-2B straight into your accounting books. Most Tally users already have the purchase vouchers; what they need is a clear order of work between the 14th, when GSTR-2B is generated, and the 20th, when GSTR-3B is due for monthly filers. This guide gives that order. Every Tally menu path below is from Tally's own help pages (listed at the end, checked on 1 Oct 2026). Where Tally's help is silent, we say so.
Before you start: why GSTR-2B decides your ITC
The GST portal fills Table 4(A)(5), “All other ITC” (GSTN GSTR-3B help), of GSTR-3B from the system-generated GSTR-2B (GSTN GSTR-3B manual). Under Rule 36(4) of the CGST Rules, you cannot take credit on an invoice unless the supplier has furnished it in GSTR-1 (or through the invoice furnishing facility) and it has been communicated to you in GSTR-2B. GSTR-2B for a month is generated on the 14th of the next month for monthly filers (GSTN). So the job of the reconciliation is to find which of your purchase vouchers are not in GSTR-2B, and why.
Tally says GSTR-2B is static for a return period once generated, so a supplier's late filing will not change the month you are working on. Its help page is tagged Release 5.0; we note the 4.1 and earlier steps where they differ.
Step 1: get the GSTR-2B into TallyPrime
Tally offers two routes. Both end in the same report.
Route A: download directly from the portal
- Open the download screen. Press Alt+Z (Exchange) > All GST Options > Download GST Returns. On TallyPrime 4.1 or earlier, press Alt+Z (Exchange) > Download GST Returns. Every return type is selected by default.
- Set what to download. Press C (Configure), set Return Type to GSTR-2B and enter the Return Period.
- Download. Press D (Download). If you are not logged in, enter your GST username and the OTP sent to your registered mobile number. Tally says the session stays valid for six hours.
- Check the confirmation. The data then appears in the GSTR-2B Reconciliation report. Tally says a re-download replaces the earlier version.
Route B: import the file you downloaded yourself
- Download from the portal. Tally's help says the file can be in Excel or JSON format. The portal steps are in our guide to downloading GSTR-2B.
- Start the import. Press Alt+O (Import) > GST Returns.
- Fill the screen. GST Registration is selected by default (choose the right one if you have several). Set Return Type to GSTR-2B, then set File Path and File to Import.
- Accept. Press Ctrl+A. The Import Summary shows how many transactions were processed, imported and failed.
More detail: our import walk-through and JSON import guide.
Step 2: open the report and read the statuses
Press Alt+G (Go To), then type and select GSTR-2B Reconciliation. Pending activities are amber and portal values are blue. Reconciliation Statistics lists nine statuses; we give Tally's description where it has one.
| Status in Tally | What Tally says it is |
|---|---|
| Reconciled | Book vouchers matched with the portal, including those you reconciled manually |
| Unreconciled | The group you drill into for Mismatched, Mismatch in Return Period and Available Only on Portal |
| Mismatched | Details such as tax amount or voucher number differ between books and portal |
| Available Only in Books | Vouchers in your books with no corresponding record on the portal |
| Available Only on Portal | Transactions on the portal that are not recorded in your books |
| Mismatch in Return Period | Return period differs between books and portal |
| Excluded, but available on Portal | Portal transactions you have chosen to exclude |
| Uncertain Transactions (Corrections needed) | Vouchers that need correction as per GSTR-2B |
| Invoices Rejected in IMS | Listed by name on Tally's page, which does not expand on it |
Useful report settings from Tally's page: F3 selects one registration (several show together by default), Ctrl+H switches between Reconciliation Statistics and Voucher Statistics, and F12 (Configure) has Show potential matches between Books and Portal. In your company's GST details you can enable auto-reconciliation for differences in taxable amount, round-off values and TDS/TCS amounts.
Step 3: fix each difference the report shows
This table is Tally's own sequence, section by section. Drill down into the transaction by pressing Enter. Tally will show your voucher next to the portal data. Select the transaction, then use the key shown. If you made a typing error, correct your voucher. If the supplier filed the wrong amount, you must ask them for a credit note or debit note.
| Where the transaction sits | What to do in Tally |
|---|---|
| Mismatched (rounding only) | Alt+S (Set GST Status), set status to Reconciled. For a real difference, review it and update your books. |
| Mismatch in Return Period | Alt+L (Set Effective Date), then update the GST Return Effective Date to match your supplier's return period. |
| Available Only on Portal | Alt+R (GST Portal View) for the full details, then record the matching entry in your books. If the party ledger is missing, the name shows in italics; the portal view gives the Trade Name and Place of Supply. |
| Available Only on Portal, not yours | Alt+S and set Status of Return to Excluded, for example when a supplier typed your GSTIN by mistake. Setting it to System Inferred restores it. |
| Potential match, Excluding Section | Books show B2B but the portal shows CDNR, for instance. Alt+F10 (Other Vouchers), choose the right type such as Credit Note, enable Provide GST Details, enter the reason, the supplier's note number and date, and save with Ctrl+A. |
| Potential match, Excluding Party GSTIN/UIN | A typing slip such as the letter O for the digit 0. Press Ctrl+Enter on the party name, correct the GSTIN/UIN in Party Details and save. |
| Potential match, Excluding Doc No. | For example MC/233 in books against MC/2333 on the portal. Select the transactions (Spacebar selects several) and press Alt+W (Copy Doc No. & Date). On Release 4.1 and earlier, drill down and edit the voucher number. |
Handling prefix and special character mismatches
A common problem is an invoice number that looks different in your books compared to what the supplier uploaded. A supplier might file "INV/26/045" while your team recorded "045". In older software, this caused a complete mismatch. Tally Prime allows you to ignore prefixes, leading zeros, and special characters during matching. From the GSTR-2B Reconciliation screen, press F12 (Configure) and set the option to ignore zero prefixes or special characters to Yes.
Duplicate risk: If you loosen the matching rules too much, you might map the wrong invoice. Always verify the supplier GSTIN and the exact tax amount. You can also read how to handle duplicate invoices in GSTR-2B reconciliation if you spot double entries.
Transactions you fix this way move to Reconciled. Tally's page gives no fix for Available Only in Books, because the cause usually sits with the supplier. Treat each one as ITC at risk and work through the three checks in the next section.
Tally fixes your books, not the portal. Setting a status to Reconciled or copying a document number changes how Tally shows the voucher. It does not add the invoice to your GSTR-2B. Under Rule 36(4) the credit still depends on what the supplier has filed.
Step 4: chase what is Available Only in Books
An invoice that is in your books but not in GSTR-2B has three usual causes. Check them in this order.
- IMS. The GSTN FAQ says invoices kept Pending in IMS are not part of that period's GSTR-2B (GSTN IMS FAQ). In Tally, Alt+G > Invoice Management System opens the IMS Inward Supplies report, and F10 (Set Action Status) offers Accept, Reject, Pending or No Action. Our IMS Pending guide explains the rules.
- The supplier. If the supplier has not filed GSTR-1, the invoice cannot reach your GSTR-2B. See suppliers who do not file and missing invoices.
- Your own entry. A wrong supplier GSTIN or invoice number in the voucher can keep it from matching. Fix it from the report as in Step 3.
After IMS actions, ITC reversals, voucher changes or a changed GSTR effective date, Tally says you may need to recompute GSTR-2B: press Alt+Z (Exchange) > All GST Options > Recompute GSTR-2B, select the registration, press R (Recompute), then download GSTR-2B again to see the latest data. The return period is prefilled from the upcoming GSTR-3B filing date.
Does Tally need invoice numbers to match exactly?
Tally's help page does not say so. It describes Potential Matches, where taxable amount and tax amount agree but the Section, party GSTIN or document number differs, and gives MC/233 against MC/2333 as an example of a document number difference to fix with Alt+W. It does not say how Tally decides two numbers are close enough, so we state no matching rule; test a few of your own vouchers.
Worked example: one month in TallyPrime
A trading firm reconciles its September 2026 purchases. The suppliers and figures are made up for illustration, and we have not run Tally on them: the Tally column shows where each voucher should land by the wording of Tally's help. The amounts are the GST (ITC) on each invoice.
| Invoice | Tax in books | Tax in GSTR-2B | Tally status | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AK/2204 | ₹18,000 | ₹18,000 | Reconciled | None |
| MC/233 (portal shows MC/2333) | ₹27,000 | ₹27,000 | Potential match, Excluding Doc No. | Alt+W, then Reconciled |
| RT-0907 | ₹4,500.50 | ₹4,501 | Mismatched | Rounding only: Alt+S, set Reconciled |
| BL/118 (booked in the August period) | ₹9,000 | ₹9,000 | Mismatch in Return Period | Alt+L, set the effective date |
| DS-3344 | ₹11,340 | Nil | Available Only in Books | Check IMS, then the supplier |
| GT/0217 | Nil | ₹3,600 | Available Only on Portal | Alt+R, record the purchase |
Tax in the five book vouchers is ₹69,840.50 (18,000 + 27,000 + 4,500.50 + 9,000 + 11,340). Tax in GSTR-2B for the five portal invoices is ₹62,101 (18,000 + 27,000 + 4,501 + 9,000 + 3,600). The gap of ₹7,739.50 is ₹11,340 missing from GSTR-2B, less ₹3,600 that is only on the portal, less ₹0.50 from rounding.
The item that needs outside help is DS-3344: ₹11,340 of credit that GSTR-2B does not show. The firm checks IMS, then follows up with the supplier. If it later claims more than GSTR-2B shows, by more than the limit GSTN has set, it can get a Form DRC-01C intimation under Rule 88D, with seven days to pay or explain (GSTN DRC-01C advisory; CGST Rule 88D, inserted by Notification 38/2023-CT).
When a browser tool helps, and when it does not
If your books are in TallyPrime on a current release, the built-in reconciliation is the natural first choice: it reads the vouchers you already have and lets you fix them from the report. Our side-by-side comparison with Tally lists the cases where Tally is the better tool, including direct download, several GST registrations and IMS actions from inside Tally.
gstr2bmatch.in is useful in three situations. Your accounts are not in Tally, or you serve clients on different software. You are on an older Tally release and want a second read of the same month. Or you want a rupee total of ITC at risk and a supplier-wise list to chase before you file. You export the purchase register to Excel (see our Tally export guide), add the GSTR-2B Excel or JSON, confirm the columns and run it. The report has five buckets: matched, value mismatch, in your books but missing from GSTR-2B, in GSTR-2B but not in your books, and likely IMS Pending. It does not log in to the portal, read your IMS dashboard, file returns or write anything back to Tally, so every correction is still made in Tally. For other tool types see our software guide; for matching data see importing and matching.
Frequently asked questions
Where is GSTR-2B reconciliation in TallyPrime?
Press Alt+G (Go To), then type and select GSTR-2B Reconciliation. Tally's help page for this report is tagged Release 5.0 and gives different steps for TallyPrime 4.1 and earlier, so check your release first.
Can I import GSTR-2B Excel into TallyPrime?
Yes. Tally's help page says to download the GSTR-2B file from the portal in Excel or JSON format, then press Alt+O (Import), choose GST Returns, set the Return Type to GSTR-2B and select the file. Tally can also download GSTR-2B directly after you log in to the GST portal from TallyPrime.
Does Tally need the invoice number to match exactly?
Tally's help page does not describe a character-by-character rule. It shows transactions where the taxable amount and tax amount agree but the document number differs, for example MC/233 in your books against MC/2333 on the portal, under Potential Matches (Excluding Doc No.). You select them and press Alt+W to copy the portal's document number and date.
How do I handle prefix mismatches like zeros?
From the GSTR-2B Reconciliation screen, press F12 (Configure) and set the option to ignore zero prefixes or special characters to Yes. This helps pair invoices like '045' and 'INV/26/045'.
What should I do with Available Only in Books invoices?
These are vouchers in your books with no matching record on the portal. Tally's help gives no fix for them, because the cause is usually on the supplier side. Check IMS first, then whether the supplier has filed GSTR-1, then your GSTIN and invoice details. Under Rule 36(4) you cannot take the credit until the invoice appears in your GSTR-2B.
Are my files uploaded when I use gstr2bmatch.in?
Your GSTR-2B and purchase register files are read in your browser and never uploaded to any server.
Get a second read of your Tally month
Export your purchase register from Tally, add the GSTR-2B and see the five buckets, the ITC-at-risk total and the supplier list. Your GSTR-2B and purchase register files are read in your browser and never uploaded to any server.
Last checked: 10 Oct 2026. Tally sources, all read on 1 Oct 2026: TallyHelp, Reconcile GSTR-2B Data in TallyPrime (last updated 15 September 2026), TallyHelp, View IMS Inward Invoices and Set Action Status (last updated 11 August 2026). GST sources: CGST Rules, Rule 36, GSTN GSTR-3B help, Table 4, GSTN GSTR-2B FAQ, GSTN IMS FAQ, GSTN GSTR-3B manual, GSTN DRC-01C advisory, CGST Rules, Rule 88D (Notification 38/2023-CT). gstr2bmatch.in is not affiliated with Tally Solutions. Tally may have changed its pages since; check TallyHelp for the current steps.