IMS Invoice Management System GST: Accept, Reject or Pending

The Invoice Management System (IMS) is a screen on the GST portal where you, as the buyer, accept, reject or keep pending each invoice and credit note your suppliers report in GSTR-1. Your choices decide what flows into GSTR-2B and then GSTR-3B. If you take no action, the record is treated as accepted.

What is IMS, in plain words?

Earlier, whatever your suppliers filed simply landed in your GSTR-2B, the monthly statement of input tax credit (ITC). You had no say. A wrong invoice sat there as credit, and a credit note you had never seen cut your credit.

IMS gives you the say. It lists what suppliers have saved or filed in GSTR-1, GSTR-1A or the Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF), and lets you mark each record. You find it after login under Services, then Returns, then Invoice Management System (IMS). Regular and casual taxpayers have it.

Is it compulsory to act? No. The GSTN's own answers say a record left at "No Action" is deemed accepted. IMS is a control, not a new return.

What does each action do?

You can change your mind any number of times before you file GSTR-3B. The latest action wins. Once GSTR-3B is filed, the actions for that period are frozen. If the supplier edits a saved record before filing GSTR-1, your action on it is reset.

What does not come to IMS?

Some credit goes straight to GSTR-2B and never asks for your decision:

• Imports recorded through ICEGATE, and documents from GSTR-5 and GSTR-6.
• Purchases where you pay the tax under reverse charge.
• Records where credit is not available because of the place of supply rule or the time limit in section 16(4).

The GSTN has since announced an import section inside IMS. We did not read that advisory today, so check the dashboard for what it shows now.

How long can a record stay pending?

An invoice can stay pending until you accept or reject it, or until the section 16(4) time limit for that credit runs out. Use this when the goods have not reached you, or the bill is in dispute.

Credit notes are stricter. From the October 2025 tax period, a credit note can be kept pending for one tax period only: one month for a monthly filer, one quarter for a quarterly filer. The GSTN's example: a credit note in a GSTR-1 filed on 10 November 2025 can be kept pending until 20 December 2025. After that it is deemed accepted.

When you accept a credit note, the portal now asks whether your ITC needs to be reduced. Answer "No" if you never took credit on the original invoice. Answer "Yes" for the full amount, or declare a part amount. Remarks are compulsory for a part reversal or no reversal.

A monthly routine that works

1. After your suppliers' GSTR-1 due date, open the Inward Supplies tile in IMS.
2. Download the Excel and compare it with your purchase register.
3. Mark each record: A to accept, R to reject, P for pending. A rejection asks for a remark.
4. Click Save. Your draft GSTR-2B is generated on the 14th.
5. If you changed anything after the 14th, click Compute GSTR-2B. You can do this as often as needed before filing.
6. File GSTR-3B with the credit that GSTR-2B now shows.

Quarterly filers under the QRMP scheme get a quarterly GSTR-2B on the 14th of the month after the quarter. If your previous GSTR-3B is not filed, no draft is generated at all.

A worked example

Ritu sells home decor online and files monthly. In IMS for October 2026 she sees four records.

• Marketplace commission invoice: Rs 40,000 plus GST of Rs 7,200. It matches her fee report. She accepts.
• Packaging supplier invoice: Rs 25,000 plus GST of Rs 4,500. The cartons have not arrived. She keeps it pending.
• An invoice of Rs 10,000 plus GST of Rs 1,800 from a company she has never dealt with. She rejects it with a remark.
• A marketplace credit note reversing a fee: Rs 5,000 plus GST of Rs 900. She had taken credit on the original invoice, so she accepts and answers "Yes" to the reduction.

Her credit for October is Rs 7,200 less Rs 900, which is Rs 6,300. The Rs 4,500 comes in the month she accepts it. The Rs 1,800 never does. Had she done nothing, GSTR-2B would have shown Rs 12,600, including credit that is not hers and credit on goods not yet received.

Why should an online seller care?

Most of your sales are to consumers, so nobody is accepting or rejecting your invoices. IMS matters on your purchase side. Marketplaces raise invoices for commission, shipping and ads every month, along with credit notes when fees are reversed. That is where your credit comes from. See ITC on marketplace commission.

If you also sell to registered businesses, your buyers can reject your credit notes. The Outward Supplies view in IMS shows you what they did. A rejected credit note means the tax you reduced is added back to your liability.

The mistake sellers usually make

The first is never opening IMS. Everything is then deemed accepted, including invoices that are not yours. Credit taken on a wrong invoice can be asked back later with interest.

The second is rejecting a genuine credit note to protect your own credit. It pushes the tax back on your supplier and starts a dispute.

The third is changing actions after the 14th and filing GSTR-3B without recomputing GSTR-2B.

How much effort is this? For a seller with a handful of purchase bills a month, it is a short check before each GSTR-3B. How GSTR-3B itself works is in what is GSTR-3B.

What is changing next?

On 8 October 2026 the GST Council recommended adding a sub-rule (6A) to rule 60 of the CGST Rules, to write the accept, reject and pending actions into the rules. This is a recommendation. We have not confirmed that it has been notified.

Frequently asked questions

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