Vouchers are the atoms of Tally. Get the voucher type right and everything downstream - the ledgers, the GST returns, the financial statements - falls into place. Get it wrong and you spend the next week reconciling.
This guide breaks down the seven voucher types you will use most, when each applies, and the conventions that quietly cause the most rework: debit/credit signs, party vs nominal ledgers, and GST.
The accounting vouchers at a glance
Here is the quick reference. We go deeper on each below.
- Payment - money going out of a bank/cash account (pay a supplier, an expense).
- Receipt - money coming into a bank/cash account (collect from a customer).
- Contra - movement between your own cash and bank accounts (cash deposit, bank transfer).
- Sales - revenue from selling goods/services (the tax invoice you raise).
- Purchase - cost of buying goods/services (the supplier's invoice).
- Credit Note - a sales return or a reduction of a sale already booked.
- Debit Note - a purchase return or a reduction of a purchase already booked.
Payment, Receipt and Contra - the bank trio
These three are what you generate when you convert a bank statement. The rule is mechanical once you internalise it:
Payment voucher
Use when money leaves a bank or cash account. The bank/cash ledger is credited; the expense or party ledger is debited. Example: paying ABC Traders 50,000 by NEFT - debit ABC Traders, credit Bank.
Receipt voucher
Use when money enters a bank or cash account. The bank/cash ledger is debited; the customer or income ledger is credited. Example: receiving 30,000 from a customer - debit Bank, credit the customer ledger.
Contra voucher
Use only when both sides are your own cash/bank accounts - a cash deposit into the bank, or a transfer between two bank accounts. Misclassifying a contra as a payment or receipt is the single most common bank-entry error, because it inflates both expenses and income.
Pro tip
When converting a statement, scan for transfers between the client's own accounts first and tag them as Contra. Everything left over is cleanly a Payment or Receipt.
Sales and Purchase - where GST lives
Sales and Purchase vouchers carry the tax. A multi-item GST invoice in Tally has stock items, rates, and CGST/SGST or IGST ledgers, and the totals have to tie out to the rupee.
The sign conventions matter here too: in a Sales voucher the party is debited and Sales + output GST are credited; in a Purchase voucher the party is credited and Purchase + input GST are debited. Intra-state uses CGST + SGST; inter-state uses IGST. Pick the wrong pair and GSTR-1/GSTR-3B will not reconcile.
Important
Rounding is a silent killer. If line-item GST is computed per item and Tally rounds the invoice total differently, the voucher will not balance. Decide your rounding rule once and apply it everywhere.
Credit Note and Debit Note - the returns
A Credit Note reverses or reduces a sale (a customer returns goods, or you issue a post-sale discount). A Debit Note reverses or reduces a purchase (you return goods to a supplier).
In Tally these are often implemented as a voucher type with a sign flip on the underlying Sales/Purchase logic. The GST treatment must reference the original invoice so the credit/debit flows correctly into the returns. This is exactly the kind of detail an automated tool should get right for you, every time.
How Greenote picks the right voucher type for you
When Greenote reads a bank statement, it classifies each line as Payment, Receipt, or Contra automatically, applying the correct sign convention and ledger direction. For invoicing workflows it builds full multi-item Sales and Purchase vouchers with GST, and handles Credit/Debit Notes with the proper sign flip and original-invoice reference.
You stay in control - reviewing and adjusting where judgement is needed - while the mechanical parts are handled correctly by default. See it in action in our bank statement to Tally guide.
Conclusion
Master the seven voucher types and you have mastered the grammar of Tally. The bank trio (Payment, Receipt, Contra) governs your cash flow entries; Sales and Purchase carry your GST; Credit and Debit Notes handle the reversals.
Greenote applies these conventions automatically for every Indian bank and both Tally versions. Start free and let correct vouchers be the default, not the goal.
Read next: why imported entries land in Suspense, what each Tally import error means, and how to book GST on bank charges.
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