GST IMS Offline Tool: Know How to Download, Review and Upload Invoice Data

The GST system keeps changing to improve compliance and reduce errors. One major change is the Invoice Management System known as IMS. This system started from the October 2024 tax period.

IMS focuses on invoices uploaded by your suppliers. These invoices come from GSTR-1, GSTR-1A, or IFF.

You must take action on these invoices. This action decides your Input Tax Credit. If you do not review invoices, your ITC can go wrong.

To support this process, the GST portal now provides the IMS Offline Tool. This tool helps you handle invoice data in bulk through Excel.

What is IMS Offline Tool

IMS Offline Tool is an Excel-based utility available on the GST portal.

This tool allows you to download invoice data, review it offline, and upload your actions back to the portal.

The tool supports four actions on invoices:

• Accept
• Reject
• Pending
• No Action

You can apply these actions to one invoice or many invoices at once. This is useful if your business deals with large volumes of invoices.

Why this tool matters

IMS is linked with ITC control. If you accept a wrong invoice, your ITC claim will be wrong. If you ignore a correct invoice, you lose credit.

Many businesses handle hundreds of invoices each month. Manual review on the portal takes time and leads to errors.

The offline tool solves this problem. It allows bulk processing, filtering, and structured review.

For IT professionals and remote workers, invoices from SaaS vendors, cloud services, and contractors will appear in IMS. You must verify these before taking credit.

Step 1: Download the IMS Offline Tool

• Start by downloading the tool from the GST portal.
• Go to www.gst.gov.in Navigate to Downloads → Offline Tools → IMS Offline Tool
• The file will download as a zip file. Extract the file on your system. Open the file properties and enable macros. Then open the Excel utility.
• Without enabling macros, the tool will not work.
• Next, you need your invoice data.
• Login to the GST portal. Go to Services → Returns → Invoice Management System (IMS) Dashboard → Offline
• Click on “Download JSON”. Save the file on your system.
• This JSON file contains all invoices uploaded by your suppliers for that period.
• Open the IMS Offline Tool in Excel.
• On the home sheet, click “Open Downloaded IMS JSON File”.
• Select the JSON file you downloaded.
• The tool will auto-fill invoice data into different sheets. Each sheet shows invoice details such as supplier GSTIN, invoice number, and value.
• Now your data is ready for review.

Step 2: Download IMS Data from Portal

Step 3: Import Data into the Tool

Step 4: Review and Take Action on Invoices

This is the main step.

Go through each invoice carefully.

Choose one of the four actions:

• Accept if invoice is correct
• Reject if invoice is wrong
• Pending if you need time to verify
• No Action if you do not want to act now

You can also add remarks where needed.

Your ITC depends on correct selection.

If you accept a fake or wrong invoice, your tax position becomes risky. If you reject a valid invoice, your ITC reduces.

Step 5: Validate the Data

• After completing your review, click “Validate Sheet”.
• This step checks your data against system rules.
• If errors exist, the system will show them. You must fix these errors before moving forward.
• Validation ensures that your upload will not fail.
• After validation, click “Generate JSON File to Upload”.
• This creates a new JSON file with your updated actions.
• If you did not make any changes, the generated file will be empty.
• This means no update will happen on the portal.
• Now go back to the GST portal.
• Login and navigate to: Services → Returns → IMS Dashboard → Offline
• Click on “Upload JSON”.
• Upload the file you generated.
• The system will process your file and update your invoice actions.
• The offline tool follows the same rules as the IMS portal.
• Your actions must follow GST validation rules.
• If validation fails during upload, the system will generate an error file.
• Download the error file. Fix the issues in the offline tool. Generate a new JSON file and upload again.
• The tool provides filter options. You can filter invoices based on parameters like supplier or value. Filters reset during validation.

Step 6: Generate JSON File

Step 7: Upload the File to GST Portal

Important Points You Must Know

When you upload a JSON file, the data updates your records. If the same GSTIN records exist, they get replaced with updated data.

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