Invoice Management System (IMS) Under GST: Complete Guide to Accept, Reject & Manage Invoices (2025)

If you've logged into the GST portal recently and noticed a new dashboard under Services → Returns → Invoice Management System, you're looking at one of the most significant additions to India's GST infrastructure since the system launched in 2017.

The Invoice Management System (IMS), launched October 14, 2024 and substantially updated through 2025, allows buyer-taxpayers to individually accept, reject, or keep pending every invoice filed by their suppliers — before those invoices feed into GSTR-2B and affect ITC claims.

This fundamentally changes how ITC reconciliation works. Before IMS, buyers had no say in what appeared in their GSTR-2B — every invoice a supplier filed just landed there. Now, buyers can actively manage what ITC they claim and flag discrepancies before they become compliance problems.

What Is the Invoice Management System (IMS)?

The Invoice Management System is a new feature within the GST portal that allows recipient taxpayers to accept, reject, or keep pending invoices when saved or filed by their supplier taxpayers.

Think of it as an inbox for your inbound GST invoices. Every time a supplier files or saves an invoice in their GSTR-1, IFF, or GSTR-1A, it appears in your IMS dashboard immediately. You then decide what to do with it before it becomes part of your GSTR-2B.

The problem IMS solves: Before IMS, ITC mismatches between a buyer's books and their GSTR-2B were only discovered after the fact — often when a notice arrived. IMS lets you catch mismatches before they hit your returns.

How IMS Fits Into the GST Return Flow

Here's where IMS sits in the monthly filing cycle:

Supplier files GSTR-1 / IFF / GSTR-1A
            ↓
Invoice appears in Recipient's IMS Dashboard
            ↓
Recipient takes action: Accept / Reject / Pending / No Action
            ↓
GSTR-2B generated on 14th of month (includes accepted + no-action invoices)
            ↓
Accepted ITC auto-populates into GSTR-3B Table 4
            ↓
Recipient reviews, makes adjustments, pays tax, files GSTR-3B

What Are the Four Actions You Can Take on Each Invoice?

The Deemed Acceptance Rule — Critical to Understand

This is the most important operational rule in IMS:

This means: doing nothing = accepting everything. If you never log into IMS, all your supplier invoices are automatically accepted and your GSTR-2B populates as before. IMS participation is not compulsory — but active use maximises accuracy.

How to Use IMS: Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1 — Access IMS Dashboard

Login to gst.gov.in → navigate to Services → Returns → Invoice Management System (IMS)

You'll see the IMS dashboard with tabs:

• Supplier Dashboard — your outward supply invoices (what your buyers see)
• Recipient Dashboard — inward supply invoices from your suppliers

Step 2 — View Inbound Invoices

In the Recipient Dashboard, invoices appear categorised as:

• No action taken (default state for all new invoices)
• Accepted (you've explicitly accepted)
• Rejected (you've rejected)
• Pending (you've deferred the decision)

You can filter by GSTIN, invoice date, invoice number, or action taken.

Step 3 — Take Action on Individual or Bulk Invoices

For individual invoices: Click on the invoice row and select Accept, Reject, or Pending.

For bulk actions: Select up to 500 invoices using checkboxes and apply the action in one click. For more than 500 invoices, download as Excel, process offline using the GSTN Excel tool, and re-upload.

Step 4 — Save Your Actions

Click Save after selecting actions. Your choices are recorded on the portal. Suppliers can see what action you've taken on their invoices.

Step 5 — Recompute GSTR-2B (If Actions Taken After 14th)

GSTR-2B is auto-generated on the 14th of each month. If you take any IMS action after the 14th:

• Your GSTR-2B must be manually recomputed using the "Compute GSTR-2B" button
• The recomputed GSTR-2B reflects your updated IMS actions
• You cannot generate a new GSTR-2B until you've filed GSTR-3B for the previous period

Step 6 — File GSTR-3B

After GSTR-2B reflects your accepted ITC, proceed to file GSTR-3B. Once GSTR-3B is filed, no further IMS action can be taken for that period.

What Happens When You Reject an Invoice

Rejection has cascading consequences for both parties:

Impact on the Recipient (You)

• The invoice is excluded from your GSTR-2B — no ITC claimed
• You can recover ITC later if the supplier re-reports the invoice and you re-accept it

Impact on the Supplier

• The supplier can see you've rejected their invoice in their IMS Supplier Dashboard
• Their GST liability in GSTR-3B is affected — rejecting an invoice changes their auto-populated liability
• They should investigate why you rejected and either amend via GSTR-1A or confirm the rejection is correct

If You Accidentally Reject a Valid Invoice

The Pending Option: When and How to Use It

Marking an invoice "Pending" holds it for one period without affecting your current GSTR-2B.

When to Use Pending

• The invoice is for a future delivery (goods not yet received)
• You're waiting for the physical invoice to verify amounts
• There's a dispute under investigation but you don't want to reject permanently
• The invoice should be claimed in the next period

Limits on Pending

• Specified records can be kept pending for one tax period (one month for monthly filers, one quarter for QRMP filers)
• After this period, you must either Accept or Reject
• Section 16(4) of the CGST Act sets the outer time limit for ITC claims — don't keep invoices pending beyond that

What Cannot Be Marked Pending

Some document types cannot be Pending — they must be Accepted or Rejected:

• Original Credit Notes
• Upward amendments of Credit Notes
• Certain downward amendments of invoices/debit notes where original was accepted and GSTR-3B already filed

October 2025 Updates: What's New in IMS

The GSTN has progressively enhanced IMS. Key updates effective October 2025:

Import of Goods in IMS

Effective October 2025 tax period, a new section for "Import of Goods" has been introduced in IMS. Bills of Entry (BoE) filed by the taxpayer for import of goods (including import from SEZ) are now available in IMS for action. This is particularly important for businesses with significant import activity.

Partial ITC Reversal on Acceptance

A new facility lets taxpayers declare the exact ITC availed and reverse only that amount — partially or fully. If ITC was never claimed, no reversal is required. This prevents over-reversal in situations where only a portion of an invoice's ITC was utilised.

Remarks Feature

Taxpayers can save optional remarks when rejecting or keeping records pending. These remarks appear in GSTR-2B and the supplier's dashboard — improving communication and reconciliation between trading partners.

GSTR-3B Table 3 Hard-Locked

From July 2025, outward supply values in GSTR-3B Table 3 are auto-filled from GSTR-1 and locked — cannot be manually edited. This interacts with IMS because any corrections to supplier-side data now flow through GSTR-1A → IMS → GSTR-2B.

IMS for QRMP Filers (Quarterly Return, Monthly Payment)

QRMP filers have different IMS timelines:

• Invoices from suppliers flow into IMS in real-time (monthly)
• GSTR-2B for QRMP filers is generated quarterly (not monthly)
• IFF-filed invoices (months 1 and 2 of the quarter) appear in IMS and feed quarterly GSTR-2B
• The pending period for QRMP filers = one quarter (not one month)

What Are the Most Common IMS Mistakes to Avoid?

IMS and the ITC Reconciliation Workflow

IMS replaces much of the manual GSTR-2A reconciliation businesses previously did. The new workflow:

For accountants and finance teams managing large invoice volumes, the Excel bulk download and offline tool significantly speeds up the reconciliation process.

Key IMS Dates Each Month (For Monthly Filers)

External References

GSTN Official IMS Advisory

GSTN IMS June 2025 Update — Wrongly Rejected Documents

ClearTax IMS Guide

gst.gov.in IMS Portal Access

Conclusion

IMS is the most significant change to the ITC ecosystem since GSTR-2B was introduced. It gives buyers genuine control over what ITC they claim — and creates a communication channel with suppliers that didn't previously exist.

Your IMS action plan:

Use gstcalculator.me to verify the GST amounts on individual invoices — especially useful when reconciling IMS entries against your internal purchase records.

Related: Input Tax Credit Under GST · How to File GSTR-3B · How to File GSTR-1 · GSTIN Format & Verification Guide

Invoice Management System — Frequently Asked Questions