GST reconciliation that protects your input tax credit
Last reviewed·ReconPe Editorial
Match your GSTR-2B against your purchase register and see the input tax credit you’re about to lose — invoices a supplier hasn’t filed — alongside the credit you haven’t claimed yet. Then match GSTR-1 to your sales and tie out GSTR-3B for a pre-file confirmation. One monthly close, in minutes.
Why GSTR-2B reconciliation eats month-ends
GSTR-2B is the gate for your input tax credit
Under Rule 36(4) and Section 16(2)(aa), you can only claim ITC on invoices that actually appear in your GSTR-2B. An invoice booked in your purchases but missing from 2B is credit you cannot take — until the supplier files.
A supplier who files late or wrong costs you cash
When a vendor misses their GSTR-1, your credit for that invoice is blocked for the month. Spread across dozens of suppliers, that is real working capital sitting frozen — and most teams find it only at quarter-end.
Invoice numbers and rounding never match cleanly
Your books write "INV/2026/0042"; the portal carries "INV-2026-42". Tax differs by a rupee from rounding. A VLOOKUP misses both, so genuine matches surface as mismatches and real gaps hide in the noise.
IMS and 3B locking changed the monthly routine
Since the Invoice Management System (Oct 2024), invoices flow through Accept / Reject / Pending before they land in 2B — and GSTR-3B is now hard-locked. The reconciliation has to be right before you file, not after.
How ReconPe handles your GST close
ITC at risk, in rupees, with a vendor chase-list
Every invoice booked but missing from 2B rolls up into an at-risk total and a per-supplier list — so you know exactly which vendors to chase, and for how much, before the filing deadline.
IRN-first, amendment-aware matching
Matches on the e-invoice IRN when present, falls back to GSTIN + normalised invoice number + date, treats B2BA / CDNRA amendments as superseding their original, and signs credit notes so they reduce ITC the way they should.
Late-filed credit is deferred, not lost
Attach next month's 2B and an invoice your supplier filed late is reclassified as deferred — available next period — instead of being written off as a permanent loss.
GSTR-1 and a GSTR-3B tie-out before you file
Match your sales register to filed GSTR-1 to catch under-reported liability, then tie GSTR-3B to GSTR-1 + 2B for a pre-file confirmation — with a ready-to-file status and an Excel / PDF close pack.
The details that decide a GST reconciliation
Whether a reconciliation ties out or quietly leaks comes down to how the portal file is actually shaped. These are the specifics ReconPe handles because it reads the real GSTR-2B, not an idealised one.
Reads the portal JSON the way it is actually shaped
GSTR-2B is deeply nested — supplier → invoice → line items, plus credit notes, amendments and imports. ReconPe explodes that into clean invoice rows instead of one row per supplier, so every invoice is matched, not just summarised.
Deterministic keys, with a tolerance band
Matching is GSTIN-grouped and keyed on the IRN first, then the normalised invoice number — with a small rupee / percentage tolerance on tax so rounding doesn't create phantom mismatches. No fuzzy guessing on a tax identifier.
IMS status carried through to the verdict
Invoices marked Pending or Rejected in IMS, and credit flagged ineligible, are surfaced as actions to take before the 2B locks — not buried in a matched pile.
Books stay flexible; the portal file stays canonical
Upload your purchase or sales register as Excel or CSV from Tally, Zoho or any ERP. An AI-assisted mapper proposes which columns are GSTIN, invoice number, date and tax — you confirm. The government JSON is parsed natively.
A worked example: the ITC you booked vs the ITC you can claim
Illustrative — one purchase invoice, matched between your books and the GSTR-2B the portal generated. The figures are examples; the blocked credit is the kind ReconPe surfaces before you file.
- Invoice booked in your purchase register
- INV/2026/0042
- Taxable value
- ₹50,000.00
- GST claimed in books (18%)
- ₹9,000.00
- Found in your GSTR-2B?
- No — supplier hasn't filed GSTR-1
- ReconPe flags
- ₹9,000 ITC at risk · chase this supplier before the deadline
Claim it anyway and it’s recoverable by the department with interest under Rule 36(4). ReconPe rolls every booked-but-missing invoice into an at-risk total and a per-supplier chase-list — and if the supplier files late, next month’s 2B reclassifies it as deferred credit instead of a write-off.
Frequently asked
What is GSTR-2B reconciliation?
GSTR-2B is the GST portal's system-generated statement of the supplier invoices available to you for input tax credit in a given month. GSTR-2B reconciliation is the process of matching that statement against your own purchase register so you can claim every rupee of credit you are entitled to, and avoid claiming credit on invoices that aren't actually in 2B (which is recoverable by the tax authority with interest and penalty).
How do I reconcile GSTR-2B with my purchase register?
Download your GSTR-2B JSON from the GST portal (Returns Dashboard → open the return → Download → Generate JSON), export your purchase register from Tally/your ERP as Excel or CSV, and upload both to ReconPe. It matches each invoice by IRN or by supplier GSTIN + invoice number + date within a small tolerance, then shows you three things: invoices booked but missing from 2B (ITC at risk), invoices in 2B not yet booked (unclaimed), and value mismatches to review.
What is input tax credit (ITC) and why reconcile it?
ITC is the GST you paid on purchases that you can set off against the GST you owe on sales. You can only claim it on invoices present in your GSTR-2B (Rule 36(4) / Section 16(2)(aa)). Reconciling 2B against your books each month catches suppliers who haven't filed (blocking your credit), invoice-level filing errors, and duplicate or reversed entries — so you neither lose credit you're owed nor over-claim credit you can't support.
What happens if a supplier hasn't filed their invoice?
That invoice won't appear in your GSTR-2B, so the credit is blocked for the month. ReconPe flags it as ITC at risk and groups it under that supplier in a chase-list. If the supplier files late and the invoice shows up in a later 2B, attaching the next-period statement lets ReconPe reclassify it as deferred — credit you'll get next month rather than a permanent loss.
Does ReconPe handle GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B as well?
Yes. It matches your sales register against filed GSTR-1 to surface under-reported or extra entries on the outward side, and ties GSTR-3B out against GSTR-1 + GSTR-2B as a pre-file confirmation — with a ready-to-file status. The whole monthly close (ITC, sales, and the 3B tie-out) lives in one place, with an Excel or PDF export.
Is GST reconciliation free?
You get 3 GST reconciliations free after signing up — enough to run a full month's close (GSTR-2B ITC, GSTR-1 sales, and the 3B tie-out) and see the input tax credit you were missing. Paid plans add monthly volume: Starter includes 25 GST reconciliations a month and Growth 100, with unlimited on Enterprise.
The ITC you booked isn't the ITC you can claim
A founder is about to claim ₹14 lakh of input tax credit. Riya asks how much is actually in their GSTR-2B. The gap is ₹2.8 lakh — and the fix is a phone call, not a write-off.
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Run your next GST close in minutes
3 free GST reconciliations after sign-up — enough to close a full month and see the input tax credit you were leaving on the table.
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