GST
A monthly vendor-invoice matching routine recovers eligible ITC while there is still time to follow up, not after the portal has locked the period.
Input tax credit is no longer a figure you compute only from your purchase book. GSTR-2B is the static statement of what suppliers have filed. Credit that does not appear there is difficult to defend later, even if you hold a tax invoice and have paid the supplier.
A monthly match, done before GSTR-3B is filed, is the difference between a follow-up call to a vendor and a demand that names a period you can no longer amend easily.
Treat it as unmatched until the supplier files. Follow up in writing. Claiming it anyway is the usual source of later mismatch notices.
As soon as 2B is available and purchases are closed, and always before 3B is filed. Leaving it to the due date leaves no time to chase vendors.
No. Monthly matching makes the annual recon a roll-forward instead of a reconstruction. Both still need to be done.
More practical guidance from the Knowledge Centre.
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Contact Our TeamClose accounts payable for the tax period before you open 2B. Credit notes, debit notes and unrecorded invoices make the match meaningless. The register should carry GSTIN, invoice number, date, taxable value and tax by rate.
Totals can agree while individual invoices do not. Match GSTIN plus invoice number. Exceptions fall into a short list: not in 2B, in 2B but not in books, value or tax difference, and invoices that belong to another GSTIN of the same group.
Not in 2B: Chase the supplier to file GSTR-1. Do not claim the credit in 3B until it appears, unless you have a documented exception your officer will accept.
In 2B, not in books: Often a missed invoice or a bill in another entity’s email. Book it or mark it as not ours with the supplier’s confirmation.
Value difference: Rate error, freight treated differently, or a credit note not yet issued. Fix the invoice trail before the next period.
Claim the credit that is in 2B, supported by a tax invoice, received goods or services, and not blocked under Section 17(5). Keep a reconciling statement that starts from 2B, subtracts ineligible and unmatched items, and arrives at the 3B figure. That statement is what we attach if a notice later asks how the credit was computed.
Motor cars, food, employee benefits and works-contract items can appear in 2B and still be ineligible. The monthly routine should flag blocked categories from the ledger code, not from 2B. Mixing the two questions produces an overstated 3B.
Store the 2B download, the purchase register, the exception list, and vendor emails for each period. When GSTR-9 is prepared, this pack is the working paper. It is also what a departmental audit asks for first.
