Amazon Seller Month-End Closing Checklist for Tally
Month-end for an Amazon seller is a sequence, not a scramble — and the sellers who close in an afternoon are the ones who run the same ordered checklist every time. Here is a battle-tested sequence for closing an Amazon month in TallyPrime, with the reports each step depends on and the checks that prove the step is done.
Before you start: gather the source files
| Report | Source | Feeds |
|---|---|---|
| MTR B2C (and B2B if applicable) | Seller Central — Tax Document Library | Sales vouchers, credit notes |
| Settlement flat files overlapping the month | Payments — reports repository | Fees, TCS/TDS, receipts |
| Amazon fee tax invoices | Seller Central invoice section | GST input credit support |
| Bank statement | Your bank | Deposit verification |
Download everything first; half-closed months usually trace back to a missing settlement file. Exact navigation paths are in how to download Amazon MTR and settlement reports.
The closing sequence
- Import sales and credit notes from the MTR. Shipment rows become sales vouchers, Refund rows become credit notes, grouped by invoice number with GST splits preserved.
- Import settlement components. Commission, closing fees, shipping and FBA charges to expense ledgers; TCS and TDS rows to receivable ledgers; net deposits as receipts.
- Reconcile order-level. Match settlement order-ids against booked sales; carry a named list of in-transit orders for the cut-off.
- Reconcile deposits to bank. Each settlement-id's signed total equals one bank credit; investigate carried balances if not.
- Accept TCS on the GST portal. Compare accepted TCS with the TCS receivable ledger; move accepted amounts per your CA's process.
- Tie fee GST to invoices. Input credit claimed on Amazon fees should trace to fee invoices and appear in GSTR-2B.
- Run the GSTR-1 comparison. Tally's GSTR-1 view against the MTR summary: taxable value, tax amounts rate-wise, credit notes. Differences at this stage are cheaper than differences after filing.
- Review exceptions. Any unmatched refunds, unclassified fee rows, or suspended vouchers get resolved or documented — not ignored.
- Get CA sign-off, then lock. Whether via TallySutra's built-in CA review step or your own process, a professional look before the period closes catches treatment questions while they are still editable.
Checks that prove the month is actually closed
- Voucher count from imports equals distinct invoice count in the MTR.
- Sales ledger total equals the MTR's summed Tax Exclusive Gross for Shipment rows, net of the month's credit notes.
- IGST/CGST/SGST ledger movements match the MTR tax columns.
- Amazon party or control ledger's residual balance equals the documented in-transit list — nothing unexplained.
- TCS and TDS receivable movements match the settlement rows for the period.
Common ways month-end goes sideways
- Importing a not-yet-final MTR. Amazon can revise reports; re-download before closing and re-import — harmless if your pipeline is duplicate-safe, dangerous if it is not (see avoiding duplicate vouchers).
- Treating the payout gap as one number. Decompose it: fees, recoverable TCS/TDS, refunds, timing — the method in why payout amounts don't match.
- Editing imported vouchers by hand inside Tally. Fix upstream and re-import instead, so books always match source files.
- Skipping the lock. An unlocked closed month invites silent changes that surface at filing time.
Compressing the checklist
Steps one through four are file processing, and that is the part TallySutra automates: upload the month's MTR and settlement files, review the exception queue, route the batch through CA approval, and push balanced XML vouchers into TallyPrime via the Gateway desktop app or file import. What stays human is judgment — treatment questions, portal acceptance, and the final sign-off. A checklist plus automation turns month-end from a two-day chore into a same-day close; the workflow lives at Amazon to Tally.
A realistic timeline for the close
Sequenced well, the close spreads lightly across the first week of the month rather than consuming one brutal day. Days one and two: download everything as the files become final — the MTR typically lands within the first few days, and settlement files for cycles ending in the month are already waiting. Day three: run the imports and clear the exception queue while volumes are fresh. Day four: reconciliations — order-level, deposit-level, and the TCS portal acceptance. Day five: the GSTR-1 comparison, CA review, and lock. Sellers who instead start on the GSTR-1 due date compress five calm steps into one frantic evening, and it shows in the quality: exceptions get force-cleared, in-transit lists go undocumented, and the same shortcuts resurface as reconciliation debt next quarter. The checklist is the same either way; the calendar position is what decides whether it feels like procedure or crisis. Put the download step on a recurring reminder for the second working day of the month and the rest of the sequence tends to follow on schedule.
Frequently asked questions
When is the earliest I can close an Amazon month?
Once the month's MTR is final and every settlement file overlapping the month is available — practically, a few days into the following month. Closing earlier risks importing a report Amazon subsequently revises. If you must produce early numbers, close provisionally, note which files were outstanding, and re-run the import when finals arrive; duplicate-safe re-imports make the second pass painless.
Do I need to wait for all in-transit settlements before closing?
No. Orders invoiced this month but settling next cycle are normal; document them as a named in-transit list that explains the Amazon ledger's residual balance. What you should not carry unexplained are unmatched refunds, unclassified fee rows, or settlement orders missing from your sales — those are errors, not timing, and they belong in an exception review before lock.
Where does my CA fit into a software-driven close?
Best placed between import and lock: the mechanical voucher creation is automated, then the CA reviews exceptions, confirms tax treatments such as credit-note disclosure and TCS acceptance, and approves the batch before it becomes final. TallySutra models this directly with a review and approval step, so the CA sees a prepared, reconciled month rather than raw files.
TallySutra turns Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho reports into reconciled, reviewed TallyPrime vouchers — duplicate-safe, with every rupee traceable to its source row.
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