How to Set Up GST E-Invoicing in Tally Prime

Quick answer: To set up GST e-invoicing in Tally, register on a GSTN Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), create an API user with Tally (India) Private Ltd as your GSP, then in TallyPrime press F11 and set "e-Invoicing applicable" to Yes. Test on the sandbox, then generate the IRN from each sales voucher. The GSTN rule applies from ₹5 crore aggregate turnover. Cloud use needs TallyPrime Cloud Access plus your own licence.

How we researched this: We followed Tally Solutions' help pages for e-invoice setup, IRN generation, sandbox, reports and FAQs, Tally's licence and Cloud Access pages, and the GSTN e-invoicing overview and IRP notices. Menu names, prices and thresholds are as published in October 2026; Tally releases change screens, so match them to your version.

Who must do e-invoicing, according to GSTN

GSTN's e-invoicing overview defines the rule in plain terms. Taxpayers whose aggregate turnover (PAN-based) exceeds the notified limit in any preceding financial year since 2017-18 must comply. The overview says the currently notified limit is ₹5 crore and above, applicable from 1 August 2023. Key points from the same document:

• Documents covered: GST invoices, credit notes and debit notes for B2B supplies, supplies to SEZs, exports and deemed exports.
• Where you still create the invoice: In your own accounting or ERP system. The portal only registers it and returns an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) plus a QR code.
• Cost: Reporting on any of the six authorised IRPs is free of charge.
• Validity: A GST invoice for a B2B transaction is valid only with a valid IRN.
• Enablement is not the same as obligation: Being enabled on the e-invoice portal does not by itself mean you are legally bound; the notified turnover limits do.
• Time limit: For businesses with annual aggregate turnover of ₹10 crore or more, a GSTN-authorised IRP notice says invoices, credit notes and debit notes must be reported within 30 days of the invoice date from 1 April 2025; older ones are rejected.

Check your own position against the notifications before you start. The e-invoicing guide for small businesses and the e-invoicing and e-way bill software comparison cover non-Tally alternatives.

How to set up GST e-invoicing in Tally: the one-time setup

Tally's help page splits this into three parts. Keep your GSTIN and the mobile number registered with GST ready, and add TallyPrime to your firewall or antivirus exceptions list.

Part A: register on the IRP

1. Open the IRP home page (einvoice1.gst.gov.in) and click Registration, then Portal Login.
2. In the e-Invoice Registration Form, enter your GSTIN and the CAPTCHA, then click Go.
3. Enter the business details, click Send OTP, enter the code sent to your registered mobile number and click Verify OTP.
4. Create a username and password, confirm and save.

Part B: create the API user with Tally as GSP

1. On the IRP home page, click Login with the username and password from Part A.
2. Click API Registration, then User Credentials, then Create API User.
3. Select "Through GSP", and in "Select your GSP" choose Tally (India) Private Ltd.
4. Enter an API username and password and click Submit.

The API credentials are different from your IRP credentials. Inside TallyPrime you log in to the e-Invoice screen with the IRP credentials. If you already have an e-Way Bill profile in TallyPrime, Tally says you do not need a new API user profile.

Part C: switch it on in TallyPrime

1. Press F11 and set "Enable Goods and Services (GST)" to Yes. In Release 3.0 or later with several GST registrations, select the registration first.
2. Set "e-Invoicing applicable" to Yes, then fill in "Applicable from" (the date from which transactions are subject to e-invoicing) and "Invoice bill from place".
3. Press Ctrl+A to save.

Clean your masters before the first IRN

Tally recommends checking ledgers and stock items for correct HSN/SAC, tax rates and Type of Supply, and party masters for correct address, pincode and GSTIN/UIN. Exporters must also update the ISO Currency Code under the currency master. This is where most first-week rejections originate, as Tally's FAQ lists mismatched HSN/SAC and states that do not match pincodes among the common causes.

Practise on the sandbox first

Tally provides an e-Invoice Sandbox so you can run the full IRN process as a trial. You register on the sandbox portal with Tally's client ID (AACCT29GSPB5H8G, as printed on Tally's help page) to get a username and password, use TallyPrime Release 3.0 or later for the Sandbox access feature, and take a backup first. Enable it with F11, Ctrl+I (More Details), "Enable Sandbox access" Yes. Then send vouchers with Alt+Z (Exchange), Send for e-Invoicing. Tally's warning is blunt: you must disable Sandbox access before generating e-invoices on the live IRP, and if you tested on live data without a backup you will have to cancel the sandbox e-invoices first. Test on a copy of your company data.

Generate your first IRN from a sales voucher

1. Record a GST sales voucher: party, sales ledger, item and GST ledger. Do not start the invoice number with 0, / or -, because the IRP rejects such numbers.
2. Set "Provide e-Invoice details" to Yes. For a new party, enter the Bill to and Ship to places on the e-Invoice Details screen; Tally remembers them for later invoices.
3. Press Ctrl+A to save. At the prompt to generate the e-Invoice, press Enter.
4. On the e-Invoice Login screen enter the IRP username and password. Setting "Enable Extended Session" to Yes keeps you signed in for up to 30 days, but not on TallyPrime 7.1 or earlier.
5. On success the IRN is written into the voucher and the invoice prints with the IRN and QR code.

To send an e-way bill together with the e-invoice, press F12 and set "Send e-Way Bill details with e-Invoice" to Yes, then fill in the transport details. If Bill to and Ship to differ, Tally's page notes that TallyPrime 7.1 onwards asks for the Ship To GSTIN/UIN under a GSTN advisory (No. 661, effective 1 August 2026, as cited by Tally); on 7.0 or earlier you generate on the portals and enter the Ship To GSTIN manually. For credit and debit notes the steps are the same, but Tally notes NIC does not support an e-way bill alongside an e-invoice for them.

Bulk work: use Exchange, Send for e-Invoicing and pick vouchers with the spacebar.

When it goes wrong: the e-Invoice report and the FAQ rules

Open the report with Alt+G, then e-Invoice. Its sections include "Pending for Exchange with e-Invoice System", "Missing/Invalid Information", "IRN Generated", "Rejected by e-Invoice System" and "IRN Cancelled". To fix a problem:

• Missing or invalid data: drill down, correct HSN/SAC, pincode, state or place, and the voucher moves to Pending for IRN generation.
• Rejected invoices: correct the cause, press Alt+R (Mark as Resolved) and resend.
• An IRN made outside Tally: press Alt+L (Get IRN Info) and log in.

Tally's e-invoice FAQ adds rules worth pinning above the billing desk:

• Unregistered dealers and B2C customers cannot get an e-invoice; nil-rated or wholly exempt supplies are not required to have one.
• Invoice numbers allow only forward slash and hyphen, must be at most 16 characters and must not start with 0 or /.
• Do not edit a voucher after IRN generation; editing moves it to "Voucher information mismatch with QR Code". Issue a credit note, or cancel and regenerate within 72 hours of the original.
• Cancellation has a 24-hour window and needs remarks and a reason code. Deleting the voucher in your books does not cancel it on the portal, and an e-way bill must be cancelled before its e-invoice.
• Sales returns need credit notes. Negative quantity, rate or value is rejected, and tax tolerance is ₹1.

A Pune distributor raising 200 invoices a day will hit these within a week. Assign one person to clear the Rejected and Missing sections each evening.

Tally Prime cloud hosting server India: browser access and buying online

If your accountant, branch and owner all need the same data, Tally's own answer to the Tally Prime cloud hosting server India question is TallyPrime Cloud Access (TPCA). It is the closest thing to cloud Tally on web browser software, because users can connect through a browser. Its product page says it is hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Windows and Linux users connect through a virtual client, while macOS users log in through a browser. Each user receives credentials and a URL, and login uses Tally.NET plus a Secure PIN. Backups are taken automatically, encrypted and retrievable from the Self Service Portal.

Moving an existing licence means surrendering it on the local computer and choosing "Reactivate Existing License" on the virtual computer, using TallyPrime Release 6.0 or later and the TPCA Client, and placing data in the Shared_Data folder. Tally's help lists the Windows client needs: dual-core 1 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM and a stable connection, with 10 Mbps recommended.

To buy online, Tally's buy page lists TallyPrime Silver (single PC) at ₹22,500 lifetime, and Gold (multi-user) at ₹67,500 lifetime, plus 18% GST. Rental starts at ₹750 a month for Silver and ₹2,250 for Gold, and 12-month rental is ₹8,100 and ₹24,300. The page says Cloud Access and WhatsApp are not included in plan pricing and are bought separately; Tally's cost guide says a new perpetual licence includes one year of TSS. Tally's FAQ says online e-invoicing needs a valid TSS, though an offline JSON export still works after TSS expires. Alternatives from partners include Tally on Cloud by Hostbooks and Tally Prime on Cloud by Tallycloudhub; TallyPrime Server covers local multi-user networks, and Tally Prime Rental lists rental. Compare your partner's quote with Tally's list prices. Tally's FAQ also says each NIC username can be tied to a different GSP; whether a third-party GSP such as Cygnet GSP works with your TallyPrime release is a question for that vendor.

A two-week rollout plan

• Days 1-2: Check turnover against the ₹5 crore limit; collect GSTIN credentials; clean party and stock masters.
• Days 3-4: Complete Parts A and B; set up Part C on a copy of the company.
• Days 5-7: Run 20 sandbox invoices, including a credit note and an export.
• Day 8: Take a backup, disable Sandbox access, and go live with one counter.
• Days 9-14: Review the e-Invoice report daily; then roll out to all billers.

When Tally is no longer enough, or your team prefers a browser-first tool such as Zoho Books, read how to move from Tally to cloud accounting, or the TallyPrime guide and how TallyPrime helps small businesses grow. For GST filing from the same books see Tally GST Filing, filing GST returns straight from billing data and our GST software and accounting software lists. ClearTax also lists e-invoicing as a product.

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