Amazon MTR vs Settlement Report: What's the Difference?
Ask an Amazon seller for their sales data and you will get one of two very different files: the Merchant Tax Report (MTR) or the settlement report. Both come from Seller Central, both describe the same underlying orders, and each is nearly useless for the other one's job. Understanding the split is the foundation of marketplace accounting, so here is the comparison in full.
What each report is for
The MTR is a tax document: an invoice-level record of every shipment, refund, and cancellation with complete GST detail. It exists so you can file returns and maintain statutory books. The settlement report is a money document: a component-level record of what Amazon collected, what it deducted, and what it paid you in a given settlement cycle. It exists so you can verify the payout.
Side-by-side comparison
| MTR | Settlement report | |
|---|---|---|
| Organised by | Invoice number and invoice date | settlement-id and posted-date |
| Format | CSV, B2C and B2B variants | Tab-separated flat file |
| Key columns | Seller GSTIN, Invoice Number, Invoice Date, Transaction Type, Order ID, SKU, Ship To State, Tax Exclusive Gross, IGST/CGST/SGST rate and tax, Invoice Amount | settlement-id, transaction-type, order-id, amount-type, amount-description, amount, posted-date |
| Contains GST rates and place of supply | Yes | No |
| Contains fees, TCS, TDS | No | Yes |
| Feeds into Tally as | Sales vouchers and credit notes | Fee expenses, tax receivables, receipts |
| Period alignment | Calendar month | Settlement cycles crossing month boundaries |
Why the totals will never match each other
Sellers regularly compare a month's MTR total with the same month's settlement deposits and panic at the difference. The gap is structural, not an error: settlement files follow posted-date, so late-month orders settle next cycle; fees, GST TCS at 0.5%, and TDS at 0.1% under section 194-O reduce the payout below invoiced value; and refunds hit settlements on their own schedule regardless of when the original invoice was raised. The only meaningful comparison is order-level matching on Order ID, which both files share — the method is covered step by step in our Amazon to Tally reconciliation guide.
Which report do you import into Tally?
Both — for different vouchers:
- From the MTR: sales vouchers for Shipment rows, credit notes for Refund rows, with GST splits and place of supply preserved. This is your GSTR-1 source. Step-by-step instructions are in how to import the Amazon MTR into TallyPrime.
- From the settlement file: expense vouchers for commission and fees, receivable entries for TCS and TDS, and receipt vouchers for the net deposits.
Importing only the MTR leaves your Amazon party ledger swelling with receivables that never clear; importing only the settlement file gives you cash without compliant sales records. Every complete Amazon-to-Tally workflow ingests the pair.
Handling both files without spreadsheet pain
Because the two reports use different formats, different date bases, and different granularity, combining them by hand means a monthly spreadsheet exercise that grows with your order count. TallySutra's Amazon to Tally workflow accepts both uploads, generates the correct voucher types from each, and cross-matches them by Order ID so the reconciliation happens at import time rather than at month end. Anything that cannot be matched confidently lands in an exception queue for review — including the CA approval step if your practice uses it — before a single voucher reaches TallyPrime.
One order, two reports: a walkthrough
Follow a single Rs 1,180 order (Rs 1,000 taxable plus 18% GST, shipped interstate) through both files and the division of labour becomes obvious. In the MTR, the order appears as one Shipment row: invoice number and date, Order ID, SKU, quantity, Ship To State, Tax Exclusive Gross of Rs 1,000, IGST of Rs 180, Invoice Amount of Rs 1,180. That row becomes a sales voucher, and it is the complete GST story. In the settlement file, the same Order ID surfaces days later across several rows inside some settlement-id: an ItemPrice Principal row for the collection, negative ItemFees rows for Commission and FixedClosingFee, and the order's share of TCS and TDS appearing among the deduction lines. Those rows become fee expenses, tax receivables, and part of a receipt voucher. Notice what each file cannot tell you: the MTR says nothing about what selling the order cost, and the settlement rows say nothing about the GST rate or place of supply. Multiply this order by a few thousand and you have the entire argument for importing both reports through one pipeline that joins them on Order ID.
Frequently asked questions
Can I file GST returns from the settlement report alone?
No. The settlement report lacks invoice numbers usable for GSTR-1, tax-rate splits, taxable values, and place of supply — all of which the MTR carries. GST workings must come from the MTR; the settlement file's role is fees, TCS, TDS, and payout verification. Using payout data as turnover is a frequent cause of GSTR-1 mismatches.
Do the MTR and settlement report share any common key?
Yes — the Order ID appears in both files, and it is the join key for reconciliation. One MTR invoice may map to several settlement rows (Principal, fees, taxes for that order), and an order's rows may fall in a later settlement file than its invoice month, so match order-wise across files rather than expecting period totals to agree.
Which report should a new seller start importing first?
Start with the MTR, because statutory obligations depend on it: sales must be in the books with correct GST regardless of when money arrives. Add settlement imports immediately after, since fees and tax deductions explain where the rest of your money went. In TallySutra both uploads share one workflow, so in practice you adopt them together.
TallySutra turns Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho reports into reconciled, reviewed TallyPrime vouchers — duplicate-safe, with every rupee traceable to its source row.
Book a 30-minute demo