GSTR-2B against your purchase books: a practical checklist

GSTR-2B is the statement of input tax credit the GST system prepares for you each month, based on what your suppliers have filed. Before you claim credit in your return, it's worth checking it against your own purchase records. This is a general guide — confirm the treatment for your business with your accountant.

Do it every month, not once a year

Once GSTR-2B is available for the month, compare it with your purchase register before you file your GSTR-3B. Small differences are easy to fix now and painful to untangle later.

What to match on

• The supplier's GSTIN.
• The invoice number and date.
• The taxable value.
• The tax amount, split into CGST, SGST and IGST.

Sort the differences into four piles

• Matches. Nothing to do.
• In both, but the numbers differ. Usually a typing error on either side: invoice number, date, rate or value. Check the physical bill and correct your books, or ask the supplier to correct theirs.
• In your books, not in GSTR-2B. Often the supplier hasn't filed, or filed late, or used a wrong GSTIN. Don't claim that credit until it appears; follow up with the supplier.
• In GSTR-2B, not in your books. A bill you haven't entered, or one that isn't yours. Find it and enter it, or query it.

The usual reasons for a mismatch

• The supplier filed after the cut-off, so it shows next month.
• The invoice was booked in a different month from the one the supplier reported.
• A credit note or debit note wasn't recorded on one side.
• Reverse-charge purchases, which appear differently.
• Credit you aren't eligible to claim at all, for example on certain blocked items.

A simple monthly routine

• Enter every purchase bill as it arrives, with the correct GSTIN and invoice number.
• When GSTR-2B is available, run the comparison.
• Work through the four piles; chase suppliers for the missing ones the same week.
• File GSTR-3B claiming only what is matched and eligible.
• Keep a note of what you're waiting on for next month.

How Distiqo helps — and what it doesn't do

Distiqo reads your purchase bills, records the input tax on each, and keeps an input-credit status per invoice, so your books are clean and easy to compare. Matching against GSTR-2B itself is something you or your accountant do today; automatic matching is not built yet, and it is on our list of things we haven't done.