Tally Prime Interview Questions and Answers: 60 Questions from Easy to Hard
This guide is for B.Com freshers, accounts assistants and working accountants in India preparing for jobs where TallyPrime is used every day. It has 60 questions with model answers in three levels: the basics of companies, groups, ledgers and voucher keys; the daily work of GST and TDS entries, inventory, bank reconciliation, outstandings and payroll; and senior topics such as migration, controls, reconciliations and month-end close. Every amount has been worked out, and every tax rate or limit is given as an assumption because Indian rules change. Try each answer aloud, then take the mock test. The questions are written by CoreHRx for practice. CoreHRx is not affiliated with or endorsed by Tally Solutions, and these are not actual Tally certification exam questions.
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Practice questions written by CoreHRx. CoreHRx is not affiliated with or endorsed by Tally Solutions, and these are not actual Tally certification exam questions.
What TallyPrime interviews cover
- Company basics: creating a company, F11 features and F12 configuration, groups and ledgers, and the voucher keys from F4 Contra to F9 Purchase.
- Daily entries: payment, receipt, contra, journal, sales and purchase vouchers, credit and debit notes, with GST and TDS lines worked out on paper.
- Inventory: stock items, groups, units and godowns, stock journals, batches and stock valuation, and how stock links to the accounts.
- Control work: bank reconciliation, bill-wise outstandings and ageing, payroll with PF and ESI, and reports such as the Trial Balance, Day Book and Balance Sheet.
- For experienced roles: migration from Tally.ERP 9, GST and TDS return readiness, user rights and audit trail, data backup and month-end close.
How to prepare (freshers and experienced)
- Freshers: if you can use TallyPrime (the educational mode works for practice), create a sample trading company and enter one month of purchases, sales, payments and a bank reconciliation.
- Learn the voucher keys and the main menus by using them, not from a list: interviewers often ask you to enter a voucher on a test computer.
- Practise GST and TDS entries with assumed rates until you can say each ledger and amount aloud, including where the tax ledger sits in the groups.
- Experienced candidates: prepare two or three real stories, such as a reconciliation you fixed, a migration you ran or a control you added, with the numbers.
- Check current GST, TDS, PF and ESI rates and limits on official sites before the interview, and say you would confirm them rather than quote from memory.
Common mistakes and interview-day tips
- Creating a ledger under the wrong group. Say the group and the reason aloud, because the Balance Sheet and P and L depend on it.
- Using On Account for every receipt. Interviewers check that you link receipts to bills, so outstanding and ageing reports stay right.
- Stating a tax rate, threshold or due date as a fixed fact. Explain the setting in TallyPrime and say the rate must be checked for the year.
- Claiming you know Tally but not knowing the reports. Be ready to show the Day Book, outstanding receivables and a drill-down from the Balance Sheet to a voucher.
Tally Prime interview questions: Easy questions (freshers)
20 questions1. What is TallyPrime, and what changes for a user moving from Tally.ERP 9?
TallyPrime is Tally Solutions' business accounting software, used by many small and medium businesses in India for accounts, inventory, GST, TDS and payroll. It replaced Tally.ERP 9 with a cleaner screen: a top menu bar with menus such as Company (Alt+K), Data (Alt+Y) and Go To (Alt+G), where Go To opens a report or voucher from almost any screen, and Ctrl+H to change the mode of a voucher. Groups, ledgers and voucher types work much as before, so an ERP 9 user adapts quickly, but old company data must be migrated before TallyPrime can open it.
2. What details do you enter when creating a company in TallyPrime, and why do its two dates matter?
You create it from Alt+K (Company) > Create and enter the name, mailing name and address, state and country, contact details, base currency, the financial year beginning date and the books beginning date. The state matters for GST, because it decides whether a sale is intra-state or inter-state. The financial year beginning sets the reporting year, usually 1 April in India. The books beginning date is when entries start: a Jaipur firm that moves to TallyPrime in October can begin books on 1 October and enter opening balances as on that date.
3. What is the difference between F11 (Features) and F12 (Configure) in TallyPrime?
F11 switches on what the company uses, such as inventory, GST, TDS, payroll, cost centres, multiple godowns, batches or bill-wise entry. It is set per company, so a trader and a manufacturer can be set up differently. F12 changes how the current screen behaves or what it shows, for example which fields appear during voucher entry or what a report displays. A simple rule: if the business needs a capability, look in F11; if you want a screen to look or work differently, look in F12. Turning features on that nobody uses only adds fields to fill.
4. What are groups and ledgers in TallyPrime, and which ones come predefined?
A ledger is an account that entries are posted to, such as Cash, Sharma Traders or Rent. A group classifies ledgers, so reports know where each one belongs: Rent under Indirect Expenses lands in the profit and loss account. TallyPrime provides 28 predefined groups, 15 primary groups and 13 sub-groups, and two predefined ledgers, Cash and Profit & Loss A/c. You can add your own groups under them, but the predefined groups cannot be deleted. A ledger under the wrong group still gives an agreeing trial balance, but a wrong Balance Sheet or P and L.
5. Under which groups would you create the ledgers shown, and why?
Each ledger goes where its nature puts it in the final accounts. A customer goes under Sundry Debtors and a supplier under Sundry Creditors, so bill-wise outstanding reports pick them up. GST ledgers sit under Duties & Taxes as current liabilities. Freight paid to bring goods in is a Direct Expense, so it reduces gross profit, while office salary is an Indirect Expense. A loan against property is a Secured Loan. A common mistake is putting a customer under Current Assets directly, which hides it from the receivables reports.
Ledger Group
Sharma Traders (customer) Sundry Debtors
Patel Suppliers (supplier) Sundry Creditors
Output CGST Duties & Taxes
Owner's Capital Capital Account
Office Computer Fixed Assets
Freight Inward Direct Expenses
Office Salary Indirect Expenses
Loan against property Secured Loans
Bank Current A/c Bank Accounts
Sales - Local Sales Accounts6. What is the difference between direct and indirect expenses in TallyPrime, with an example?
Direct expenses and direct incomes relate to buying or making the goods you sell, so they go to the trading part of the profit and loss account and change gross profit. Indirect ones relate to running the business and affect only net profit. For a Surat textile trader, freight paid to bring cloth in and wages of dyeing workers are direct expenses; office rent, accounts staff salary and advertising are indirect. Putting freight inward under Indirect Expenses leaves net profit the same but overstates gross profit, which misleads anyone tracking margins.
7. Which keys open the main voucher types in TallyPrime, and what is each used for?
On the voucher entry screen these keys switch the voucher type. Contra moves money between your own cash and bank accounts, Payment and Receipt record money going out and coming in, Journal records adjustments, and Sales and Purchase record trading. Credit Note and Debit Note record returns and price changes after an invoice. F10 lists the remaining voucher types, and Payroll records salary. Always check the voucher title before saving, because a wrong key saves the entry in the wrong register.
F4 Contra
F5 Payment
F6 Receipt
F7 Journal
F8 Sales
F9 Purchase
Ctrl+F8 Credit Note
Ctrl+F9 Debit Note
F10 Other Vouchers
Ctrl+F4 Payroll8. When do you use a contra voucher instead of a payment voucher?
A contra voucher (F4) records money moving between your own cash and bank accounts: cash deposited into the bank, cash withdrawn for office use, or a transfer between two of your bank accounts. A payment voucher (F5) records money leaving the business to someone else, such as rent, a supplier or salary. Both sides of a contra are cash or bank, so it changes no party, income or expense. A common mistake is entering a cash deposit as a payment, which makes the payment register show money that never left the business.
9. How would you record rent paid in cash, a cheque received from a customer and a cash deposit in TallyPrime?
Rent paid in cash is a payment voucher (F5): debit Rent, an expense, and credit Cash. The cheque from Sharma Traders is a receipt voucher (F6): debit the bank, credit the customer, against the bill it settles. The cash deposit is a contra voucher (F4): debit the bank and credit Cash. In single entry mode you pick the cash or bank account at the top and the other ledger below, but the double entry is the same. Check the Day Book after saving to confirm all three vouchers are there with the right dates.
Payment (F5): rent paid in cash, Rs 18,000
Rent A/c Dr 18,000
To Cash A/c 18,000
Receipt (F6): cheque from Sharma Traders, Rs 25,000
Bank Current A/c Dr 25,000
To Sharma Traders A/c 25,000
Contra (F4): cash deposited in bank, Rs 40,000
Bank Current A/c Dr 40,000
To Cash A/c 40,00010. When is a journal voucher the right choice in TallyPrime?
A journal voucher (F7) records entries that involve no receipt or payment of money: depreciation, provisions for expenses at month end, a transfer between two party accounts, a bad debt written off, or a service bill booked with TDS. For example, depreciation on furniture of Rs 12,000 debits Depreciation and credits Furniture. A common mistake is using a journal for a purchase of stock items: that belongs in a purchase voucher in item mode, so the stock summary, the purchase register and the GST details update. Real money movements belong in payment, receipt or contra vouchers.
11. What do stock items, stock groups, stock categories, units and godowns mean in TallyPrime?
Stock items are the goods you buy and sell, each with a unit of measure such as Nos, Kg or Box. Stock groups classify items, such as Mobile Phones and Chargers, and reports total them by group. Stock categories give a second, parallel classification across groups, for example by brand or price band. Units can be simple, like Nos, or compound, like a Box of 12 Nos. Godowns are storage locations: TallyPrime has a predefined Main Location, and you add more after enabling multiple godowns in F11. Clean masters save hours in reports later.
12. What does Ctrl+H (Change Mode) do in a sales voucher?
It switches the voucher layout. Item Invoice mode lists stock items with quantity and rate, so stock and the item-wise GST details update. Accounting Invoice mode records only ledgers, which suits services or a bill with no stock, such as a consultancy fee. As Voucher mode shows the plain debit and credit lines. Choose the mode before filling the entry, because the fields differ. A trader who bills goods in accounting invoice mode sees correct sales totals but a stock summary that never goes down, which later shows up as wrong closing stock.
13. Assume GST at 18%. How does TallyPrime split the tax on a Rs 50,000 sale within the state and to another state?
For a sale within the state, the tax splits equally into CGST and SGST; for a sale to another state, the whole tax is IGST. Here CGST and SGST are Rs 4,500 each, and IGST is Rs 9,000, so the invoice total is Rs 59,000 either way. TallyPrime decides by comparing the place of supply, usually the party ledger's state, with the company's state. The tax ledgers sit under Duties & Taxes, with tax type Central Tax, State Tax or Integrated Tax. A wrong state on the party ledger gives the wrong tax type.
Taxable value 50,000, GST assumed at 18%
Pune to Nashik (same state)
CGST 9% 4,500
SGST 9% 4,500
Invoice total 59,000
Pune to Indore (another state)
IGST 18% 9,000
Invoice total 59,00014. What is the difference between GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, and how does TallyPrime help with them?
GSTR-1 is the statement of outward supplies: invoice-level details of sales, credit notes and debit notes, which also feed your buyers' input credit data. GSTR-3B is a summary return where you declare the tax on outward supplies, claim input tax credit and pay the net tax. TallyPrime prepares both from vouchers already entered, and its GST reports show which entries are included, which are not relevant, and which have missing or mismatched details, such as a missing GSTIN or HSN. Fix those before filing. Formats and due dates change, so check the GST portal each period.
15. What is TDS, and what must be set up before TallyPrime can calculate it?
TDS is tax that the payer deducts from payments such as contractor bills, professional fees or rent and deposits with the government against the payee's PAN. In TallyPrime you enable TDS in the company features (F11) and enter the TAN and deductor details. Then create TDS ledgers under Duties & Taxes with their nature of payment, and mark each party ledger as TDS applicable with its deductee type and PAN. When a bill is entered, TallyPrime works out the deduction from these settings. Rates and limits change, so check them in the nature of payment masters.
16. What is a bank reconciliation statement, and how is it done in TallyPrime?
A bank reconciliation explains the difference between the bank balance in your books and the balance on the bank statement. The gap comes from timing and missing entries: cheques issued but not presented, cheques deposited but not cleared, and charges, interest or direct credits the bank recorded but you did not. In TallyPrime you open the bank reconciliation for the bank ledger and enter the bank date of each cleared entry. What stays open is shown as amounts not reflected in the bank, and the balance as per bank should then match the statement.
17. What are bill-wise details, and what do New Ref, Agst Ref, Advance and On Account mean?
Bill-wise details track each invoice of a party separately instead of only the running balance. With bill-wise entry enabled and Maintain balances bill-by-bill set on the ledger, each entry asks for a reference type. New Ref creates a new bill, such as a sales invoice. Agst Ref settles an existing bill, such as a receipt against it. Advance records money received or paid before a bill exists, to be adjusted later. On Account records an amount not linked to any bill. Too many On Account entries make the outstanding and ageing reports useless.
18. What do the Trial Balance, Profit & Loss A/c, Balance Sheet and Day Book show in TallyPrime?
The Trial Balance lists the closing balances of all groups or ledgers, and its debit and credit totals must agree. The Profit & Loss A/c shows income and expenses for a period, with gross profit from trading items and net profit after indirect items. The Balance Sheet shows assets, liabilities and capital on a date. The Day Book lists the vouchers entered for a date or period, by default the current date, so it is the first place to check a day's work. You can drill down from each report to ledgers and vouchers, and Alt+F2 changes the period.
19. What are the basic steps to set up payroll in TallyPrime?
First enable payroll in the company features (F11). Create employee groups, such as Sales or Factory, and the employees with joining date, designation and statutory details such as PF and ESI numbers. Create attendance types, such as Present and Leave without Pay, and pay heads for each earning and deduction, such as Basic, HRA, PF and Professional Tax. Define salary details for each group or employee, enter attendance for the month, then process salary through a payroll voucher (Ctrl+F4). Pay slips and the pay sheet come from the payroll reports.
20. How do backup, TallyVault and security control differ in TallyPrime?
A backup is a copy of the company data taken from Alt+Y (Data) > Backup and brought back with Restore. Keep backups on another drive or a safe second location, not only on the same computer, and test a restore now and then. TallyVault encrypts the company data with a password, and a forgotten vault password cannot be recovered. Security control is different: it creates users with passwords and roles, so a data-entry user can be stopped from altering or deleting vouchers. Most offices need regular backups and security control; TallyVault adds encryption.
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Tally Prime interview questions: Medium questions (1-3 years)
20 questions21. A Lucknow firm's accountant creates a new company every April. Is that needed in TallyPrime?
No. A TallyPrime company can hold several financial years: balances carry forward on their own, Alt+F2 changes the period of a report, and F2 changes the current date for entries. A new company each year makes comparisons and old bill tracking harder, because pending bills sit in another company. When the data grows large, the Split option in the Data menu (Alt+Y) divides a company by date into two companies, the later one starting from the carried-forward balances. Take and keep a backup before splitting, and check both companies afterwards.
22. A Hyderabad firm runs two projects and wants the expenses of each. How do cost centres help in TallyPrime?
Enable cost centres in F11, create a cost centre for each project, and set ledgers such as Travel, Salaries and Site Expenses to allow cost centre allocation. During entry the amount is split: a Rs 30,000 travel bill can go Rs 18,000 to Project A and Rs 12,000 to Project B. Cost categories sit above cost centres, so with more than one category in use the same bill can also be split by department. Reports then show spend per project without extra ledgers. Creating one expense ledger per project instead clutters the chart of accounts.
23. What would you set in the ledger of a GST-registered customer in another state, and why?
Create it under Sundry Debtors so it appears in receivables. Set Maintain balances bill-by-bill to Yes with a default credit period, so each invoice can be tracked and aged. Enter the address with the correct state, because TallyPrime uses the state to choose IGST instead of CGST and SGST. Set the GST registration type to Regular and enter the GSTIN, and the PAN where needed. Enter the opening balance bill by bill with the original invoice numbers and dates, so old bills appear in the outstanding report with their real age.
24. After you enter opening balances, the Trial Balance shows Difference in opening balances. What does it mean and how do you fix it?
It means the debit and credit opening balances entered in the ledgers and stock items do not agree, and TallyPrime shows the gap so the totals still match. Common causes are a typing mistake, a ledger left out, a balance entered on the wrong side, or opening stock not entered in the stock items. Fix it by comparing the old trial balance with TallyPrime ledger by ledger, starting with the largest balances. Do not post the difference to a suspense or capital ledger just to remove the line, because the real error stays in the books.
25. Assume GST of 12% on mixer grinders and 18% on ceiling fans. How does a TallyPrime item invoice from Pune to a Nashik dealer work out?
Both parties are in Maharashtra, so each item gets CGST and SGST at half its own rate. Item invoice mode works out the tax item by item, so each stock item, or its stock group, needs its own GST rate and HSN details. The taxable value is Rs 27,500, CGST and SGST are Rs 2,205 each, and the invoice total is Rs 31,910. Check the tax analysis of the invoice before saving. When a mixed invoice shows one rate for both items, the usual cause is a rate set in the wrong master.
Item Qty Rate Value GST CGST SGST
Mixer grinder 20 450 9,000 12% 540 540
Ceiling fan 10 1,850 18,500 18% 1,665 1,665
Taxable 27,500, CGST 2,205, SGST 2,205
Invoice total 31,91026. How do you record a purchase return and a sales return with GST in TallyPrime?
A purchase return is a debit note (Ctrl+F9): debit the supplier and credit purchases and the input tax. A sales return is a credit note (Ctrl+F8): debit sales and the output tax, credit the customer. Here the inter-state purchase return uses an assumed IGST of 18% and the local sales return an assumed 12%. Use item mode, so stock goes out or comes back, and record the original invoice number and date so the buyer and the auditor can trace it. Entering a return as a journal leaves the stock wrong and keeps it out of the note-wise GST reports.
Debit note: 5 units at 800 returned, IGST 18% (assumed)
Patel Suppliers A/c Dr 4,720
To Purchase A/c 4,000
To Input IGST A/c 720
Credit note: 3 units at 1,200 returned, GST 12% (assumed)
Sales A/c Dr 3,600
Output CGST A/c Dr 216
Output SGST A/c Dr 216
To Sharma Traders A/c 4,03227. What are optional, post-dated, memorandum and reversing journal vouchers in TallyPrime?
All four record something without changing the books in the normal way. An optional voucher is saved but affects no report until it is made regular, which suits a proforma or a draft entry waiting for approval. A post-dated voucher has a future date, such as a post-dated cheque, and affects balances only from that date. A memorandum voucher records a provisional item, such as cash given to staff for expenses not yet accounted. A reversing journal is used with scenarios to see what-if reports, such as adding a provision, and lapses after its applicable date.
28. A Pune company wants separate invoice series for its Pune and Nashik branches, such as PUN/001 and NSK/001. How do you set this up?
Create a voucher type for each branch with Sales as its type of voucher, for example Sales Pune and Sales Nashik, each with automatic numbering and its own prefix, restarting the numbering each financial year if required. Users choose the right type, and each series stays continuous without gaps. The new types behave like Sales, so GST and the sales registers still work. Prefer automatic numbering to manual, which allows duplicates and gaps. GST invoice numbers must be unique for each GSTIN in a financial year, so two branches on one GSTIN need distinct prefixes.
29. How do you move stock from the Main Location to another godown in TallyPrime?
Use a stock journal: enter the item with the quantity going out of Main Location on the source (consumption) side and the same quantity coming into the Bhiwandi godown on the destination (production) side. Total stock and its value do not change, so no ledger is touched; only the godown-wise quantities move, as the table shows. Godowns must be enabled in F11. A common mistake is recording the move as a sale from one godown and a purchase into the other, which inflates sales, purchases and GST and leaves the trading account wrong.
Paint 20 L bucket Main Location Bhiwandi Total
Before 300 40 340
Transfer -120 120 0
After 180 160 34030. The Stock Summary of a Kochi store shows a negative quantity for an item. Why does it happen and how do you fix it?
Negative stock means more has gone out than came in on the books. Usual causes are a sale entered before its purchase, a purchase entered in accounting mode, the wrong godown or unit on an entry, a missing opening stock, or a stock journal with the sides reversed. Start from the negative stock exception report, then open the item and check its vouchers date by date. Correct the source entry; do not add a dummy purchase to make the number positive. Negative stock also distorts the closing stock value and therefore the profit.
31. Assume a Bengaluru company receives an advocate's legal service of Rs 30,000 that falls under reverse charge at 18%. How is it handled in TallyPrime?
Under reverse charge the receiver, not the supplier, pays the GST. The advocate is paid the full bill, and the company owes CGST of Rs 2,700 and SGST of Rs 2,700 itself. In TallyPrime, mark the purchase or expense entry as reverse charge in its GST details, so it appears in the reverse charge part of the returns, and raise the tax liability and matching input credit as your release requires, usually by a statutory adjustment. Reverse charge tax must be paid in cash, not set off against input credit; the credit is claimed afterwards.
Expense entry
Legal Fees A/c Dr 30,000
To Advocate A/c 30,000
Tax paid by the company under reverse charge (assumed 18%)
CGST 2,700 + SGST 2,700 = 5,400, credit claimed after payment32. Assume TDS on professional fees at 10%. How do you record a Rs 60,000 fee bill, its payment and the TDS deposit in TallyPrime?
Book the bill in a journal or purchase voucher: debit Professional Fees with the full amount, credit the party with the net amount and credit the TDS ledger with the tax. TallyPrime works out the deduction from the nature of payment on the ledgers. Pay the party only the net amount. Deposit the TDS through a payment voucher using the statutory payment option, so the challan details reach the TDS reports. A common mistake is crediting the party with the full fee and paying the net, which leaves a false balance on the party.
Bill
Professional Fees A/c Dr 60,000
To Mehta & Associates A/c 54,000
To TDS on Professional Fees 6,000
Payment to the party
Mehta & Associates A/c Dr 54,000
To Bank Current A/c 54,000
TDS deposited
TDS on Professional Fees Dr 6,000
To Bank Current A/c 6,00033. A vendor has not given a PAN. Assume TDS is 10% with PAN and 20% without, on a bill of Rs 80,000. What changes?
Without a PAN the deduction doubles: Rs 16,000 instead of Rs 8,000, so the vendor receives Rs 64,000 instead of Rs 72,000. In TallyPrime the nature of payment holds the rates for parties with and without a PAN, and the PAN field on the party ledger decides which one applies, so check the rate proposed on the bill. Ask the vendor for the PAN before the first payment, since entries without a valid PAN are flagged in the TDS return and cause notices. Never type a dummy PAN to get the lower rate.
34. Find the balance as per the bank statement from the cash book figures shown, and explain how TallyPrime handles the items.
First enter in the books what the bank already recorded: the charges and interest, giving a corrected book balance of Rs 1,85,650. Then add back cheques issued but not presented and deduct the cheque deposited but not cleared, giving Rs 2,18,850 as per the bank. In TallyPrime the charges and interest are entered as vouchers and given bank dates; the unpresented and uncleared cheques keep no bank date and show as amounts not reflected in the bank. If the balance as per bank still differs, look for a missing entry.
Cash book balance (debit) 1,85,000
Bank charges, not in books 590
Interest credited, not in books 1,240
Cheques issued, not presented 42,500
18,000
Cheque deposited, not cleared 27,30035. Prepare the ageing of the bills shown as on 31 March 2025, and explain how you would use it.
Ageing groups pending bills by how long they have been open, so collection follows risk, not just amount. Here Rs 2,05,500 is pending, and Rs 1,36,500 of it is over 60 days old. In TallyPrime the outstanding receivables report shows ageing for bill-wise parties, by bill date or due date, so the credit period on the ledger matters. Chase the oldest bills first and check whether old bills are really unpaid or were paid On Account without being linked. Unlinked receipts make ageing look worse than it is.
Bill Date Amount Days Bucket
INV-101 05-11-2024 48,000 146 Over 90
INV-118 20-12-2024 36,500 101 Over 90
INV-131 18-01-2025 52,000 72 61-90
INV-140 10-02-2025 27,800 49 31-60
INV-152 15-03-2025 41,200 16 0-30
Totals: 0-30 41,200, 31-60 27,800, 61-90 52,000, Over 90 84,50036. A customer paid an advance of Rs 50,000 in May and was billed Rs 1,18,000 in June. How do you record it so the outstanding is right?
Record the receipt in May with reference type Advance and a name such as ADV-01. When the June invoice is entered, split its bill allocation: Agst Ref ADV-01 for Rs 50,000 and New Ref for the invoice number for the remaining Rs 68,000. The outstanding report then shows only Rs 68,000 due on that invoice, aged from June. Recording the advance as On Account leaves an unlinked credit and an invoice that looks fully unpaid. For services, GST may be payable when the advance is received, so check the current rule.
37. At month end your manager says the Sundry Debtors total looks too high. How do you investigate in TallyPrime?
Start from the Balance Sheet, drill into Current Assets and Sundry Debtors, and sort the parties by balance. For the largest ones, open the ledger and its vouchers. Compare with the outstanding receivables report: receipts entered On Account or against the wrong party, receipts posted to a sales or suspense ledger, duplicate invoices and credit notes not yet entered are the usual causes. The Day Book and the sales register help find duplicates, and the negative ledgers exception report shows parties with odd balances. Fix the entry, not the total.
38. Assume employee PF at 12% of basic, limited to a wage ceiling of Rs 15,000. Work out the PF for the employees shown and explain the TallyPrime setup.
PF is a statutory deduction computed on basic. With the ceiling, Kiran pays 12% of 12,000, while Arjun and Sana pay 12% of 15,000, so the total is Rs 5,040. In TallyPrime the PF pay head is an employees' statutory deduction with As Computed Value on Basic, and the PF details on each employee record decide the base. Some employers contribute on the full basic, which would make Arjun pay Rs 3,360, so confirm the company policy. Check one pay slip by hand after any change to the pay heads.
Employee Basic PF base PF at 12%
Kiran 12,000 12,000 1,440
Arjun 28,000 15,000 1,800
Sana 15,000 15,000 1,800
Total 5,04039. An employee with a monthly basic of Rs 30,000 has 3 days of leave without pay. How much basic is paid, and how does TallyPrime decide?
Pay depends on the per-day basis set on the pay head. On a fixed 30-day basis the basic paid is Rs 27,000 (27 of 30 days). On a calendar-day basis in a 31-day month it is Rs 27,096.77 (28 of 31 days). In TallyPrime the Basic pay head uses the On Attendance calculation type with the present days, and the attendance voucher records the leave without pay for the month. Agree the basis with HR in writing, because employees compare pay slips, and a mixed basis across months looks like an error.
Monthly basic 30,000, leave without pay 3 days
Fixed 30-day basis : 30,000 x 27 / 30 = 27,000
31-day calendar month: 30,000 x 28 / 31 = 27,096.7740. The owner of a Coimbatore firm wants a clerk to enter vouchers but not alter old ones, delete anything or see the profit. How do you set it up?
Turn on security control for the company and keep the owner as the administrator. Create a user role that allows creating vouchers but disallows altering and deleting them, and that blocks reports such as the Profit & Loss A/c and the Balance Sheet. Create the clerk as a user with that role and a personal password. Never share the administrator login, or every entry looks like the owner's. Where the edit log is enabled, alterations are recorded with the user and time, which the owner can review each month.
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Tally Prime interview questions: Hard questions (experienced)
20 questions41. You are moving a client's five years of Tally.ERP 9 data to TallyPrime. How do you plan it so nothing is lost?
Start with a full backup of the ERP 9 data, and repair any data errors in ERP 9 first. Migrate a copy into TallyPrime format, keeping the original untouched, because migrated data does not go back to ERP 9. Verify the result: compare the trial balance, stock summary, outstanding and GST and TDS reports for several dates with ERP 9 printouts. Check custom TDL add-ons such as invoice formats, which may need a TallyPrime version. Move on a quiet day after a period close, train users on the new menus, and keep the ERP 9 copy for reference.
42. A Chennai distributor has three branches on one GSTIN and wants branch profit plus one consolidated view. One company with cost centres, separate companies, or a group company?
With one GSTIN and one accounts team, one company is usually best: cost centres by branch give branch-wise profit, branch godowns and voucher types keep stock and invoice series apart, and consolidated books need no extra work. Separate companies suit branches with their own registrations or teams: each has clean books, but inter-branch dealings need a matching Branch / Divisions account on both sides, and a TallyPrime group company only combines their reports. The trade-off is simplicity against independence. Separate companies sharing one GSTIN also risk clashing invoice series.
43. Your books show more input tax credit for a month than GSTR-2B. How do you reconcile it, and what do you do with the gap?
Compare supplier by supplier, not only totals. Here the gap is Rs 15,750: Rao Packaging is missing entirely, which usually means the supplier has not filed or used a wrong GSTIN, and Kumar Chemicals differs in amount, which points to a rate or value error on one side. Under the rules as of FY 2024-25, credit is broadly claimed only when it appears in GSTR-2B, so hold the gap and follow up with the suppliers. Depending on the release, TallyPrime can compare purchases with downloaded return data; otherwise use the purchase register in Excel.
Supplier Books ITC GSTR-2B ITC Gap
Anand Steel 54,000 54,000 0
Rao Packaging 12,600 0 12,600
Kumar Chemicals 31,500 28,350 3,150
Total 98,100 82,350 15,75044. An invoice has a Rs 10,000 discount on items taxed at different assumed rates of 5% and 18%. How should GST be computed, and how do you set it up in TallyPrime?
A discount shown on the invoice at the time of supply reduces the taxable value, and on a mixed-rate invoice it must be shared across the items, here in proportion to value, before tax is applied. That gives total GST of Rs 11,520 and an invoice total of Rs 1,01,520. Taxing the full item values would give Rs 12,800, which overcharges the customer. In TallyPrime, set the discount ledger to be included in the assessable value and apportioned by value across goods, then check the tax analysis before saving.
Item Value Discount Taxable Rate GST
Item A 40,000 4,000 36,000 5% 1,800
Item B 60,000 6,000 54,000 18% 9,720
Total GST 11,520, invoice total 1,01,52045. Assume your company's turnover makes e-invoicing compulsory. How does e-invoicing work with TallyPrime, and what usually goes wrong?
The invoice details are reported to the Invoice Registration Portal, which validates them and returns an IRN and a signed QR code that must appear on the printed invoice. TallyPrime can generate the e-invoice from the sales voucher once the GSTIN login details for e-invoicing are set up, and the e-way bill can be created with it. Most failures are data errors: a wrong buyer GSTIN, state or PIN code, a missing HSN or a unit not in the allowed list. Cancellation is allowed only for a short window (24 hours as of 2025); after that, issue a credit note.
46. Assume contractor TDS of 1%, with limits of Rs 30,000 per bill and Rs 1,00,000 a year, and that once the yearly total crosses the limit tax is deducted on the whole total. How much is deducted on the October bill?
No single bill crosses Rs 30,000 and the total stays within Rs 1,00,000 until October, so nothing is deducted from the first three bills. October takes the year to Rs 1,07,000, so 1% of the whole total, Rs 1,070, is deducted from that one bill and the contractor receives Rs 22,930. TallyPrime tracks the party's total against the threshold in the nature of payment; confirm that the deduction it proposes covers the earlier bills. Splitting bills to stay under the per-bill limit does not avoid the yearly limit.
Bill Amount Total for the year
Apr 28,000 28,000
Jun 26,000 54,000
Aug 29,000 83,000
Oct 24,000 1,07,000
TDS on Oct bill: 1% of 1,07,000 = 1,070; paid 22,93047. Explain the quarterly TDS return forms, and how you would make sure the TallyPrime data is ready for filing.
Form 24Q covers TDS on salary, 26Q other payments to residents, and 27Q non-salary payments to non-residents. Before generating a return from TallyPrime, check that every deduction has the right nature of payment, deductee type and a valid PAN, and that every deposit was entered as a statutory payment with the challan details. The TDS outstanding for the quarter should be nil, and every exception TallyPrime lists in the return report should be cleared. Validate the file with the government utility, and after processing check TRACES for any defaults.
48. A company starts its TallyPrime books on 1 October with two cheques issued and one deposit still uncleared. How do you handle the opening bank reconciliation?
Those three items were entered before the books began, so there are no vouchers to give bank dates to. TallyPrime handles this with an opening bank reconciliation on the bank ledger: enter each uncleared item with its date, number and amount, and give it a bank date when it clears. The statement balance should be the book balance plus unpresented cheques less the uncleared deposit, Rs 2,52,500. If it does not match, the opening list is incomplete. Entering these items as fresh vouchers would count them twice.
Book balance on 1 October 2,40,000
Add: cheques issued, not presented 15,000
9,500
Less: deposit not yet cleared 12,000
Balance as per bank statement 2,52,50049. Assume interest at 18% a year on overdue bills. A Rs 1,20,000 bill with 30 days of credit is paid 75 days after the invoice. What interest is due, and how does TallyPrime calculate it?
Interest runs only for the overdue days, from the due date to the payment date: 75 minus 30 gives 45 days. On a 365-day year that is 1,20,000 x 18% x 45 / 365 = Rs 2,663.01. In TallyPrime, enable interest calculation in F11 and activate it on the party ledger with the rate, calculated bill by bill from the due date, and the interest reports then show it. Booking it needs a separate entry, such as a debit note. A common mistake is charging from the invoice date, which would cover 75 days and overcharge the customer.
50. A Ludhiana distributor's receivables keep growing. How would you use TallyPrime to set up credit control?
First measure it: here debtor days are about 54.8 (18,00,000 of receivables on yearly credit sales of 1,20,00,000, times 365). Then make the data trustworthy: bill-wise on every party, a credit period on each ledger, and every receipt linked to bills the same day, with no On Account entries. Set credit limits on the party ledgers and review the overdue receivables and ageing reports weekly. Use interest calculation for slow payers and send statements of account. Track debtor days monthly; a rising figure is the early warning.
51. Work out the closing stock under FIFO and the periodic weighted average for the data shown, and explain what changes in TallyPrime.
Of 450 units, 300 are sold and 150 remain. FIFO assumes the oldest units went first, so the closing units carry the latest cost: Rs 9,000. The weighted average spreads the total cost of Rs 25,200 over all units at Rs 56 each: Rs 8,400. With rising prices, FIFO shows Rs 600 more closing stock and profit. In TallyPrime the costing method is set on each stock item and feeds the stock summary and the Balance Sheet, so changing it mid-year changes profit.
Lot Qty Rate Value
Opening 100 50 5,000
Purchase 1 200 56 11,200
Purchase 2 150 60 9,000
Sold 300, closing 150
FIFO closing 9,000
Weighted average 150 x 56 = 8,40052. A Nagpur pharma distributor must track batches and expiry and sell older stock first. How do you set it up in TallyPrime, and what goes wrong?
Enable batches and expiry dates in F11, then turn on batches and expiry tracking on each medicine stock item. Every purchase records the batch number with its manufacturing and expiry dates, and every sale picks a batch, so stock can be seen batch by batch with expiry. Staff should pick the earliest expiry first, and expired stock should be reviewed every week. Common failures are opening stock entered without batches, inconsistent batch numbers, returns put into a different batch, and sales from any batch, which hide expiring stock.
53. A small manufacturer makes 500 units using the bill of materials shown, with Rs 40 of labour and overhead per unit. What is the cost, and how is it recorded in TallyPrime?
The materials cost Rs 425 per unit; adding Rs 40 of labour and overhead gives Rs 465 per unit, or Rs 2,32,500 for 500 units. In TallyPrime the components are defined as a bill of materials on the finished stock item, and production is entered in a stock journal used as a manufacturing journal: the components go out, the finished goods come in, and the extra cost is added. Wrong BOM quantities show up as unexplained stock differences at the next physical count.
Component Qty Unit Rate Cost per unit
Raw material A 2 kg 120 240
Raw material B 0.5 kg 340 170
Packing box 1 Nos 15 15
Materials 425 + labour and overhead 40 = 465
For 500 units: 2,32,50054. From the figures shown, work out the current ratio, quick ratio and working capital, and say what they tell a lender.
The current ratio is 1.6, the quick ratio is 0.97 and working capital is Rs 6,90,000. The firm covers its short-term dues on paper, but without stock it is just under 1, so it depends on selling stock to pay creditors on time. TallyPrime's Ratio Analysis report gives these from the books, but they are only as good as the entries behind them: unadjusted advances, wrong groups or an old closing stock change them. Before sharing ratios, finish the reconciliations and month-end entries.
Current assets 18,40,000
of which stock 7,20,000
Current liabilities 11,50,000
Current ratio 18,40,000 / 11,50,000 = 1.6
Quick ratio 11,20,000 / 11,50,000 = 0.9755. What would your month-end close checklist in TallyPrime contain?
Finish entries first: all purchases, sales, credit and debit notes, expenses and payroll for the month. Then reconcile: every bank account, cash with a physical count, and party balances for major suppliers and customers. Book month-end journals for provisions, accruals, prepaid items and depreciation. Review the exception reports, such as negative stock, negative ledgers and optional or post-dated vouchers, and clear any Difference in opening balances. Check GST and TDS readiness, then take a backup and send the reports.
56. Assume PF at 12% of basic, ESI at 0.75% of gross when gross is up to Rs 21,000, and professional tax of Rs 200. Work out the net pay for the two employees shown.
Ritu earns 26,800, above the assumed ESI limit, so only PF and professional tax are deducted, and her net pay is Rs 24,440. Imran earns exactly 20,000, within the limit, so ESI of Rs 150 also applies, giving net pay of Rs 18,210. In TallyPrime each of these is a pay head with its own calculation, and the payroll voucher applies them per employee. Test the limits with an employee just over and just under before the first real run.
Basic HRA Other Gross PF ESI PT Net
Ritu 18,000 7,200 1,600 26,800 2,160 0 200 24,440
Imran 12,000 4,800 3,200 20,000 1,440 150 200 18,21057. How does a payroll voucher flow into the accounts, and how are salary and PF paid afterwards?
The payroll voucher (Ctrl+F4) debits the earning pay heads and credits the deductions and Salary Payable, so the expense is booked and the dues to staff and the government are separate liabilities. Here, with PF assumed at 12% of full basic and professional tax at Rs 200 for three employees, net pay is Rs 1,75,000. Salary is paid from the bank against Salary Payable, and the employer PF share is booked as an expense. Paying salary with an expense debit instead of Salary Payable leaves a false liability.
Payroll voucher
Basic Salary A/c Dr 1,20,000
HRA A/c Dr 48,000
Special Allowance A/c Dr 22,000
To PF Employee Share Payable 14,400
To Professional Tax Payable 600
To Salary Payable A/c 1,75,000
Salary paid
Salary Payable A/c Dr 1,75,000
To Bank Current A/c 1,75,00058. TallyPrime data in a multi-user office became corrupt after a power cut. How do you recover, and how would you design backups so it does not hurt again?
Stop all users, copy the data folder as it is, and run Repair from the Data menu (Alt+Y). If that fails, restore the latest good backup and re-enter vouchers since then from source documents and the Day Book printouts. Then fix the cause: a UPS for the machine holding the data, backups every working day kept on another drive and off-site, and a restore test each month. Always back up before risky steps such as repair, split or migration. A backup that has never been restored is only a hope.
59. An e-commerce team in Bengaluru wants its orders posted into TallyPrime automatically. What integration options exist, and what would you watch for?
TallyPrime can run as an HTTP server that accepts XML requests on a configurable port (9000 by default), so another system can create masters and vouchers or read reports. ODBC allows reading data, and TDL customises TallyPrime itself. Ledgers and stock items must exist with the same names first, or imports fail. Use a unique order number per voucher to avoid duplicates on retry, send full GST details, and log the response for errors. Never open the port to the internet.
60. A partner suspects cash receipts were altered after entry. How would you investigate in TallyPrime, and what controls would you add?
Where the edit log is enabled, review the altered and deleted vouchers with the user and time of each change. Check automatic voucher numbers for gaps, and compare the cash book with receipt books, bank deposits and the cash count. Restore an older backup into a separate data folder and compare its cash ledger with the live one to see what changed. Then add controls: user roles without alter or delete rights for clerks, the edit log on, daily cash deposits, and backups kept for the audit period. Keep the evidence untouched.
Practice questions for November 2026
New every month3 questions from the Tally Prime mock test, the way they appear in it. A new set comes on the 1st of every month. Pick your answer, then open it.
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What does the Repair option in the TallyPrime Data menu do?
- It converts the company to a Group Company for reports
- It checks the company data and fixes errors when the data is damaged
- It changes the financial year of the company to a new one
- It undoes the last voucher saved by any user of the company
Show the answer
Answer: It checks the company data and fixes errors when the data is damaged. Repair is used when company data shows errors, for example after a power failure during saving; it checks and rebuilds the data files. A copy of the data should be taken before repairing it.
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These vouchers are entered for customer Lakshmi Agencies, which had no opening balance. What is the ledger's closing balance?
Sales vouchers 50,000 32,000 18,500 Receipt voucher 45,000 Credit note 4,500- Rs 55,500 Dr
- Rs 60,000 Dr
- Rs 51,000 Dr
- Rs 51,000 Cr
Show the answer
Answer: Rs 51,000 Dr. Sales debit the customer: Rs 1,00,500. The receipt and the credit note credit it: Rs 45,000 + Rs 4,500. Balance = Rs 1,00,500 - Rs 49,500 = Rs 51,000 Dr, the amount the customer still owes.
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Assume gratuity = 15/26 x last drawn monthly salary x completed years. Last drawn salary is Rs 52,000 and service is 7 completed years. What gratuity is payable?
- Rs 1,82,000
- Rs 2,10,000
- Rs 2,40,000
- Rs 3,64,000
Show the answer
Answer: Rs 2,10,000. Gratuity = 15/26 x Rs 52,000 x 7 = Rs 2,10,000. Using 30 days in the month instead of 26 gives Rs 1,82,000. Gratuity can be provided monthly in TallyPrime through a Gratuity pay head.
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