GSTR-2B reconciliation

What it is

Every month the GST portal prepares GSTR-2B: a list of what your suppliers reported selling to you, and the input tax credit (ITC) you may claim from it. If you claim more than 2B shows, the portal flags it and you may have to pay with interest. This screen compares 2B with your purchase bills line by line.

Steps

1. On the GST portal: Returns → GSTR-2B → Download (JSON or Excel).
2. Accounting → GSTR-2B reconciliation → Upload and match. Pick the month if the file does not say.
3. Read the four tiles: Matched (same supplier, number, date and amounts), Mismatch (same document, different amounts), In 2B, not in books (the supplier reported a bill you never recorded), In books, not in 2B (you recorded a bill the supplier has not reported — no ITC yet).
4. Decide each open line: Accept 2B value (use the supplier's figure for ITC), Create bill (opens a prefilled purchase bill), Not ours (wrongly reported against your GSTIN), Carry forward (claim next month when it appears). Every decision is kept with who made it and when; undo reverses it.
5. The GST summary and GSTR-3B now say what 2B allows; the 3B page warns when your books claim more.

Matching rule

Same supplier GSTIN; invoice number equal ignoring punctuation and leading zeros (FC/001 = fc-1); date within 2 days; taxable value and tax within ₹1.

Good to know

Uploading a month again replaces the earlier file; decisions on the same documents are kept. The Excel export lists every 2B line with its match and decision, and every bill missing from 2B — what your CA wants to see.