Scanned purchase bills to Tally XML with GST checks: results from 15 real bills

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Ajay Jain

28 Points Posted on 02 November 2026

Dear members,

Sharing results from a tool we've built for CA offices handling purchase entries for multiple clients, and I'd value your feedback.

What it does

Upload supplier bills: digital PDFs, scanned PDFs, ZIP files, or one scanned PDF containing many bills

Each bill is read (OCR for scans) and checked

Download one Tally XML per client (sorted by the buyer's GSTIN), plus an Excel summary

Import in TallyPrime: Alt+O → Transactions → file path

Checks on every bill

Total matched against the amount in words

Taxable value + GST + round-off = invoice total, at a valid GST rate

GSTIN check digit validation

IGST vs CGST/SGST based on supplier and buyer state

Rates checked against the invoice date (12%/28% flagged after 22-Sep-2025)

Duplicate supplier invoice numbers

How entries are posted

Purchase @ rate, Input CGST/SGST/IGST, TCS Receivable, Freight & Other Charges, Round Off

Supplier ledger with bill-wise New Ref (invoice number)

Bills that fail any check are not posted; they appear in a "Needs Attention" sheet with the reason

Live test: 15 real scanned purchase bills (one PDF from an office scanner)

Processed in about 3 minutes

10 ready for Tally, with all figures correct

5 held for review (unclear invoice number, unreadable GSTIN, or amounts that couldn't be confirmed)

No bill was sent to Tally with wrong figures

Documents are processed in memory and not stored on our servers.

Current limits: Tally only for now (Busy/Marg planned). Very faint or handwritten bills may be held for review.

Questions for members:

How does your office handle scanned purchase bills today?

Which ledger names and groups do you use for TCS and freight?

What would make a tool like this useful enough to pay for?

Happy to give trial access to firms interested. A short demo video is attached.

Demo Video (56 Sec): https://lnkd.in/p/gTXyuyWu

Regards,

Ajay

Simha Techlabs

Replies (2)

Quick Summary

This discussion introduces a new tool designed to automate the processing of scanned purchase bills for CA offices. The tool uses OCR to read bills, performs comprehensive GST and arithmetic checks, and generates Tally XML files for easy import, significantly reducing manual data entry and errors. Initial tests show a high success rate, with a small percentage of bills flagged for manual review due to unreadable data or discrepancies.

Aashok Kumar Sharma

Finance/Compliance Consultant

69843 Points Posted on 02 November 2026

Hi Ajay,

This is a very practical and much-needed utility for CA offices handling high-volume data entry. Processing scanned/PDF purchase invoices directly into validated Tally XML while catching arithmetic discrepancies and GST rate anomalies can save articles and junior staff hours of manual checking.

Here are brief inputs addressing your questions based on standard CA office workflows:

How offices handle scanned bills currently: Most practices still rely on manual data entry by articles or semi-qualified staff directly into Tally, followed by offline Excel reconciliations or manual checks against GSTR-2B. This is prone to human error, especially with rounding-offs and interstate vs. intrastate tax misclassifications.
Ledger names & groups used:
- TCS Receivable: Grouped under Current Assets (Tax Deducted at Source - Income Tax or GST TCS, depending on context).
- Freight / Cartage / Other Charges: Grouped under Direct / Indirect Expenses (with appropriate GST applicability set to "Not Applicable" or configured as a service ledger depending on whether freight includes GST).
What makes it worth paying for:
- Zero-error guarantee on XML output: Preventing any unverified bills from posting (like your "Needs Attention" quarantine sheet) is critical.
- Speed & Bulk OCR accuracy: Handling multi-page mixed vendor PDFs seamlessly.
- Expanding ERP compatibility: Adding support for Busy and Marg (as you mentioned) will greatly expand the addressable market for small-to-medium CA practices.

Would love to check out the trial access and test it on a batch of complex multi-item bills with freight and TCS. Keep up the good work!

Best regards,

Aashok Kumar Sharma

Aashok F&C Advisory

Ajay Jain

28 Points Posted on 02 November 2026

Thank you, Aashok ji, for such a detailed response. It's very useful to hear how offices actually work today.

A few notes on your points:

Ledgers: We post TCS to a "TCS Receivable" ledger and freight to "Freight & Other Charges". Your note on GST applicability for freight is exactly the kind of detail we're building into ledger mapping next, so each firm can match its own ledger names and groups.

Held bills: Any bill we can't fully verify (totals, tax split, GSTIN checksum, IGST vs CGST/SGST, duplicates) goes to the "Needs Attention" sheet and stays out of the Tally XML. Only verified bills get posted.

Busy / Marg: It's on our roadmap. Feedback like yours helps us decide what to build first.

I'd be glad to set up trial access for you. Multi-item bills with freight and TCS are exactly what we want to test against. I'll send you a private message with the details, and please share any bills where you'd like to see how it handles them.

Best Regards,

Ajay Jain

Simha Techlabs