Invoice Management System (IMS) vs Purchase Register (PR)

With the introduction of the Invoice Management System (IMS) by the GST Network on its portal, businesses can get a cleaner GSTR-2B for their disposal. A neater GSTR-2B marks an essential leap towards accurate ITC reporting and claims. In this article, let’s deep dive into the invoice management system vs the purchase register to identify missing or duplicate purchase invoices. Learn tips and tricks for IMS vs PR while knowing the difference between IMS and the purchase register.

What is an Invoice Management System (IMS)?

Invoice Management System (IMS) is a new tool or window available on the government’s GST portal. It contains all invoices saved/filed by the vendor/suppliers and is visible to the recipient. They can verify these invoices with their purchase register and take suitable action, such as accept, reject or mark as pending. 

Since October 2025, the recipients can reject any incorrect invoice and this shall be conveyed to the vendor through the portal. The tool is currently optional for taxpayers to try and is expected to soon be made mandatory with the hard-locking of GSTR-3B auto-filled values.

What is a Purchase Register (PR)?

A purchase register is an accounting ledger record of all the purchase or inward transactions pertaining to goods and services used by a business in the manufacturing process or for sales. A typical purchase register contains details such as purchase date, supplier name, voucher type for purchase/returns, voucher name, amount payable to supplier (credit), item details, taxes, etc.

A purchase register is useful for transaction tracking, return management, and tax compliance.

Key Differences: Invoice Management System vs Purchase Register

How to Perform IMS vs PR Reconciliation?

Imagine IMS to be an additional layer between GSTR-1/Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF)/GSTR-1A of your vendors and your GSTR-2B before ITC information flows into GSTR-2B. In turn, this ITC information flows into your GSTR-3B. 

Meanwhile, taxpayers must continue to match ITC details as reflected in GSTR-2B with their purchase register. They should also reconcile purchase details appearing in IMS with the purchase register as an essential step before GSTR-2B vs purchase register.

While GSTR-2B vs purchase register helps in accurate ITC claims, IMS vs purchase register enables neater GSTR-2B, allowing only valid purchase documents to flow into GSTR-2B after recipient’s check.

Steps involved in IMS vs PR reconciliation are detailed below-

Step 1: Access purchase documents on IMS.

Log in to the GST portal or your GST compliance software, such as Clear GST and navigate to the IMS window. Download the IMS documents for the relevant GSTIN and period.

Step 2: Import/download the purchase register on your system/compliance software.

Import/download from the ERP can be done using a spreadsheet or a CSV file. Keep the purchase register in a particular format to enable comparison with IMS. Validate to avoid any errors before the import happens.

Step 3: Configure the reconciliation parameters on the compliance software/spreadsheet.

Set the GSTIN for which reconciliation must run, wherever data of multiple GSTINs are being reconciled. Select the same return period for both sets of data. Suppose the process is automated on your compliance software such as Clear GST, then ensure to set the frequency and start time/date.

Step 4: Run IMS vs PR on your system or on compliance software.

Use key matching logics such as the invoice number, date, amount, and tax details to compare invoices/credit-debit notes appearing in IMS with the purchase register. The following are the buckets in which reconciled data may fit under

• Matched: All parameters match for the given data set
• Almost matched: One or more parameters match for the given data set
• Mismatch: None of the details match
• Missing: Invoice could be present either on IMS or on your purchase register, but not on both

Step 5: Verify summaries after reconciliation.

Check for the overall reconciliation status and review supplier-wise summaries for any discrepancies.

Step 6: Take IMS actions on the government GST portal.

The following actions are recommended on IMS for the invoice reconciled status-

• Matched/Almost matched: Accept
• Mismatch: Either accept or reject or mark as pending after verifying the genuineness/accuracy of the document appearing either in the purchase register or IMS. 

Suppose, the invoice appears in IMS but not on your purchase register and you notice this is incorrectly raised on your GSTIN wrongly, then reject such an invoice.

• Missing: Mark as pending

You can take relevant actions on IMS and sync with the government GST portal seamlessly using Clear’s IMS.

Step 7: Follow up with vendors for discrepancies/rejections.

Suppose no action is taken on some documents on the IMS window, these will automatically get accepted and flow into GSTR-2B for the return period. By following these steps, you can efficiently perform IMS vs Purchase Register reconciliation. It will ensure cleaner tax data and compliant ITC claims under GST.

How does Clear help with seamless IMS vs PR?

Our advanced GST solution by Clear allows users to run reconciliation and take actions on IMS. It syncs with the Government GST portal regularly and provides smart recommended actions for your purchase register documents.

• Get the most out of IMS with GL-Stream! GL-Stream gets you updated PR every day, for frequent recons with IMS.
• Powerful filters and buckets to identify documents for IMS actions on software. 

(e.g. Credit Notes, IMS Actions, Invoice numbers, Amendments, etc.) 

• Intuitive and easy-to-use UX- No extra work, IT changes or SOP changes!
• Easy cross-collaboration for IMS actions- Get a Unique Key for every document to easily identifiable and trackable within the organisation.
• Take IMS actions directly in Clear, which will automatically flow into IMS on the government portal.
• GSTR-2B will be regenerated and downloaded at the end of the period so you don’t need to do it manually for the updated file.
• Table-4 creation is super-easy- Table-4 of GSTR-3B will be created including ineligible, reversals such as 180 days limit for payment, rule 42, etc.

Get Clear’s IMS for compliance assurance and peace of mind!