Tally is built around XML. It does not import PDFs, and it does not import a plain spreadsheet without mapping, but it happily imports an XML file of vouchers. So the clean way to get a bank statement into Tally is to convert the PDF straight to Tally XML, then import that. This guide shows how, and what the XML actually does once it lands.
I build the converter that produces this XML, so I will be specific about how the transactions map to vouchers and ledgers.
Why Tally needs XML, not a PDF#
Tally's import expects data shaped the way Tally stores it: vouchers, each with a date, an amount, a voucher type, and the ledgers it touches. A PDF carries none of that. It is a page layout, not a set of vouchers.
Converting to Tally XML does the shaping for you. Each transaction on the statement becomes a voucher element, with the date, the amount, and the voucher type already filled in, so Tally can read it directly instead of asking you to map columns row by row.
How the statement maps to vouchers#
This is the part worth understanding, because it is what saves you the manual data entry.
- A credit (money coming in) becomes a receipt voucher.
- A debit (money going out) becomes a payment voucher.
The converter decides which is which from the sign of each amount, which it works out from the debit and credit columns on your statement. You do not have to split the file into receipts and payments by hand. The bank ledger is one side of every voucher, and you set that ledger during import.
Balance-less statements
Some statements, often credit cards, do not print a running balance. They still convert, but without a balance there is less to check the numbers against, so review the vouchers a little more closely before you post them.
Step one: convert the PDF to Tally XML#
- Upload your PDF bank statement to the converter.
- Check the parsed transactions, especially that money in and money out are on the correct sides.
- Download the Tally XML file.
Convert a bank statement PDF to Tally XML
Get an XML file of receipt and payment vouchers, ready to import into Tally Prime.
If you would rather review the data in a spreadsheet before it goes near Tally, convert to Excel first with the PDF to Excel converter, check it, and then convert. The full guide to PDF statement conversion covers the checks worth doing.
Step two: import the XML into Tally Prime#
- Open Tally and load the company you want to import into.
- From the Gateway of Tally, go to Import, then Vouchers (in older versions, Import of Data, then Vouchers).
- Point Tally at your downloaded XML file.
- Confirm the bank ledger and the other ledgers the transactions should post to.
- Run the import and check the day book.
The transactions appear as receipts and payments against your bank ledger. The first time you import for a particular bank, spend a minute on the ledger mapping. After that, later statements from the same bank go in quickly.
Take a backup first
Import writes vouchers into your live company. Back up the company data before a large import, so you can roll back cleanly if a ledger was mapped wrong.
A quick check before you post#
Open the day book after importing and compare the count of vouchers against the number of transactions on the statement. If they match, and a few sampled amounts are correct, the import is sound. If the count is off, the usual cause is a description that wrapped onto two lines in the original PDF and was read as an extra row, so check the conversion step rather than Tally.
Where to go next#
The flow is short once you have done it once: convert the PDF to Tally XML, then import the vouchers. The conversion is where accuracy is won or lost, so start there with the PDF to Tally converter.
Working across more than one system? The same statement also converts for QuickBooks and for a plain Google Sheet.