Tally Prime for Beginners: Company, Ledgers and GST Entries

Tally Prime looks confusing at first because it is built for the keyboard, not the mouse. Once you know five screens and a few keys, it becomes the fastest way to keep accounts. This guide takes you from an empty Tally to your first GST invoice.

Step 1: create the company

Open Tally Prime and choose Create Company (or press Alt + K and choose Create). Fill in the business name, state, financial year starting 1 April, and the address. Accept with Ctrl + A. Then open Features with F11 and set Maintain Inventory and Enable GST to Yes. Enter your GSTIN, registration type (Regular) and return periodicity.

Step 2: understand groups and ledgers

Every account is a ledger, and every ledger sits under a group that Tally already has:

• Customers go under Sundry Debtors. Suppliers under Sundry Creditors.
• Bank accounts under Bank Accounts. Rent, salary, electricity under Indirect Expenses.
• GST ledgers (Input and Output CGST, SGST, IGST) under Duties & Taxes.
• Sales GST 18% under Sales Accounts and Purchase GST 18% under Purchase Accounts.

Create ledgers with Alt + G → Create Master → Ledger. For customers and suppliers, fill the state and GSTIN; Tally uses them to decide between CGST + SGST and IGST.

Step 3: create stock items

Create units (Nos, Box, Kg) and then stock items with the HSN code and GST rate. Getting HSN right matters because it decides the tax and appears in your GSTR-1.

Step 4: your first purchase (F9)

Press Alt + G, type Vouchers, then F9. Enter the supplier's invoice number and date, choose the supplier, the purchase ledger, the item, quantity and rate. Below the items select the input GST ledgers. Tally calculates the tax. Save with Ctrl + A.

Step 5: your first sale (F8)

F8 opens Sales. Choose the customer, the sales ledger, items and quantities, then the output GST ledgers. Print with Ctrl + P. For a customer in another state, Tally shows IGST instead of CGST and SGST if the customer's state is set correctly.

Mistakes beginners make

• Putting a customer under Sundry Creditors, which turns your receivable into a payable.
• Leaving the party's state blank, so GST goes to the wrong head.
• Typing tax amounts by hand instead of selecting the tax ledgers.
• Not taking a backup (Alt + Y → Backup) before trying something new.

Practice is the only way

Enter one full month for a sample business: purchases, sales, payments, returns and a bank reconciliation. Then compare your trial balance and GST figures with the expected answer. Our Tally Prime with GST Course gives you exactly that: a practice company with 30 transactions, a bank statement and an Expected Results sheet.