How to import a bank statement into Tally

Before you start

• In Tally, make sure your bank ledger exists, and write down its name exactly as it appears. Make sure the other ledger exists too. By default that is Suspense A/c.
• Open the company you are importing into, or have its exact name ready.
• Your statement needs real text in it. Scanned pages are not supported yet; OCR is coming soon.
• Back up the company data. Tally offers a backup choice at the import screen.

Convert the PDF to Tally XML

1. 01Open the converter and drop in your PDF statement. It is read in your browser and not uploaded. Open a sample statement first if you want to see how it works.
2. 02Look at the balance check. It compares the statement’s printed opening and closing balances with the rows it read. If it shows a difference, fix or add the missing rows before you export.
3. 03Choose Tally XML in the export bar.
4. 04Type your bank ledger exactly as it is written in Tally. For a credit card statement the box is called Card ledger. The default is Bank Account.
5. 05Type the other ledger. Each line is posted against it, so you can reclassify the line in Tally later. The default is Suspense A/c.
6. 06Enter the company name only if you want the file to go into a company that isn’t the open one. Leave it empty to import into the open company.
7. 07Download the file. Keep the file name or rename it; the name doesn’t matter to the import.

Import the file into TallyPrime

1. 01Open the company.
2. 02Press Alt+O (Import), then choose Transactions.
3. 03Enter the file path and select the XML file.
4. 04Choose Yes when TallyPrime offers to back up the company data first.
5. 05Press Enter to import.
6. 06Check the statistics TallyPrime shows when the import finishes. Then open the Day Book and look over the new vouchers.
7. 07Open the vouchers posted to the Suspense ledger and change the ledger to the right account.

What is inside our Tally XML

The Tally XML guide shows an example voucher.

Common errors and fixes

Ledger names don’t match the company’s ledgers

Vouchers refer to ledgers by name, and Tally needs both to exist already. A missing ledger shows up as an error such as “Referenced master is missing”. A different spelling, an extra space or a different ampersand is enough to cause it. Create the ledger in Tally, or export again with the name typed exactly. To see which ledger it is, open Alt+O (Import), Configuration, turn on Enable detailed log (tally.imp), import again and read the Tally.imp file in the TallyPrime folder.

Importing the same file twice creates duplicates

Tally’s help says importing the same XML file more than once duplicates the transactions. Our file has no voucher IDs for Tally to match against, so there is nothing for Tally to overwrite. Import each statement once. If you import one twice by mistake, restore the backup you took before the import.

Some lines imported and others didn’t

Open the Tally.imp log, or the Exceptions Report, to see which lines failed and why. Fix the cause, usually a ledger, and import again. Because rows that worked are already in, import only the failed ones: export a statement that contains just them, or delete the imported vouchers and start again from the backup.

Dates fall outside the books

Tally can only post a voucher inside the company’s financial year. If a statement runs across two years, check that the company’s books cover both. Tally’s help doesn’t spell out this error, so test with a small file first.