The TallyPrime year-end process has no closing entry. One company holds many years, and closing balances carry forward automatically when you press Alt+F2 and set the period to 1 April 2027 – 31 March 2028. Before that, reconcile bank, GST, TDS, stock and parties and take a full backup. After the audit, lock 2026-27 with a back-dated-voucher cut-off date.
Do you need to "close" the year in TallyPrime?
In a paper bahi-khata, and in many offices' memories of older software, year end meant drawing a line, carrying totals to a fresh book and starting again. TallyPrime doesn't work like that. A single company can hold many financial years of data. When you change the current period to the new year, Tally's guide to moving to the next financial year says balances from the previous year are carried forward automatically.
One TallyPrime company
- FY 2025-26Audited and lockedA cut-off date stops staff posting into it.
- FY 2026-27Closes on Wed 31 March 2027Reconcile, back up, then lock after the audit.closing → opening
- FY 2027-28Opens on Thu 1 April 2027Alt+F2 takes you here. Nothing is retyped.
So what carries forward on its own? Ledger balances, bill-wise outstandings for your parties and, if your accounts are integrated with inventory, stock quantities and values. Income and expense ledgers start the new year at zero, and the year's profit or loss shows up in the Profit & Loss A/c line of the Balance Sheet. If your partners or proprietor want it moved to capital accounts, pass that journal as your CA advises.
What doesn't happen on its own is everything that makes the closing figures right: reconciliation, year-end journals, the backup and the lock. That is what "closing the year" really means in TallyPrime, and it is what the rest of this guide covers.
Don't create a new company on 1 April. A fresh company means retyping every opening balance and every pending bill by hand, and it splits your history in two just when your CA and the GST reconciliations need it in one place. If you genuinely want separate data per year, the right tool is a split, done after the audit. See when to split.
Your year-end checklist: tick, save, print
Here is the whole process on one page. Your ticks are saved in this browser on this device only, so you can come back over several weeks. Use Print or save as PDF to hand a clean copy to your accountant or keep it with the year's file. Each step is explained in the sections below.
TallyPrime year-end checklist, FY 2026-27
Year ends Wed 31 March 2027 · New year opens Thu 1 April 2027
Reconcile before 31 March: bank, GST, TDS, stock and parties
Most year-end pain comes from a difference found in July that could have been fixed in March. Start reconciling in the first half of March, while suppliers and banks still answer quickly, and finish the last few entries in the first days of April.
| Area | Where in TallyPrime | Match it against | Usual culprits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank, OD, CC | Bank Reconciliation, with the statement imported (Excel, MT940 or CSV) | Bank statement balance on 31 March | Cheques not yet presented; charges and interest not booked |
| GST input credit | Alt+G › GSTR-2B Reconciliation | GSTR-2B for each month | Invoices only in books or only on the portal; wrong return period |
| GST output | GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B reports | Returns filed on the GST portal | Credit notes and amendments entered after filing |
| TDS | TDS reports and challan entries | Challans paid; AIS for TDS on your receipts | Missed deductions; short deposits |
| Stock | Stock Summary; Physical Stock voucher (Ctrl+F7) | Physical count on 31 March | Damaged or expired goods; negative stock |
| Debtors and creditors | Bills receivable and payable; party ledgers | Balance confirmations from parties | On-account receipts not set off against bills |
| Cash and loans | Cash and loan ledgers | Cash count; lender statements | Negative cash; loan interest not booked |
Report names from Tally Solutions' help on GSTR-2B reconciliation and bank reconciliation, checked 2026-10-06.
GST: reconcile 2B month by month
Press Alt+G, type GSTR-2B Reconciliation and work through each month. Tally's GSTR-2B guide sorts every invoice into groups such as Reconciled, Mismatched, Available Only in Books, Available Only on Portal and Mismatch in Return Period, and recent releases can download 2B straight from the portal. Chase suppliers for invoices missing from the portal now, not in October. Credit on 2026-27 invoices can still be claimed until 30 November 2027 under section 16(4) of the CGST Act (or until the annual return is filed, if that comes first), but your CA will want to know about late items before signing off.
Stock: count it, then let TallyPrime value it
Count stock as close to the end of 31 March as you can and record differences with a Physical Stock voucher. If accounts are integrated with inventory, the closing stock on your Balance Sheet comes straight from the Stock Summary. If you have switched that off (F11 › Integrate Accounts with Inventory: No), Tally's stock valuation FAQ explains entering the closing value by hand in a Stock-in-Hand ledger, dated 31 March 2027.
Year-end journals and small checks
Pass the adjustments your CA asks for: depreciation, outstanding and prepaid expenses, provisions and interest on loans or partners' capital. Then run the Trial Balance and look for anything odd: suspense balances, negative cash, debtors with credit balances. If you buy from micro or small enterprises, TallyPrime's MSME reports help you spot overdue payables, and your CA can tell you how late payments affect your tax deductions.
Change the period and carry closing balances forward
This is the step people search for as "how to transfer closing balance to the next financial year in TallyPrime". It takes a minute:
- Take a full backup first. Tally's own guide lists it as the step before changing the period. Press Alt+Y › Backup & Restore › Backup in release 7.0 or later.
- Change the period. At the Gateway of Tally press Alt+F2 (Period) and enter From
1-4-2027To31-3-2028. From a Mac keyboard through Windows App, the Alt key is Option; our Tally Cloud shortcut keys guide lists every Mac equivalent. - Restart voucher numbering. Open Alt+G › Alter Master › Voucher Type, choose Sales (and any other series that should restart) and fill in Restart Numbering with an applicable-from date of 1 April 2027. The CGST Rules require tax invoice numbers to be unique for a financial year.
- Check the opening position. Compare the Trial Balance as at 31 March 2027 with the opening figures on 1 April. Balance sheet ledgers should match to the rupee.
Two things surprise people. First, the company's Financial year beginning from and Books beginning from dates don't change, and Tally's help says they shouldn't. Second, nothing stops anyone pressing Alt+F2 again and posting a voucher dated 15 March. Every such entry changes last year's closing balances and this year's opening ones. That is fine while your CA is still finalising, and a problem after the audit, which is why the next step matters.
Lock the old year: security controls and Edit Log
TallyPrime doesn't lock a year by default. You do it with user roles, described in Tally's guide to managing users in TallyPrime:
- Switch on user access. Alt+K (Company) › Alter, and set Control User Access to Company Data to Yes. Set the administrator's username and password, and store them safely.
- Limit back-dating from April. Under Alt+K › User Roles, open the role your staff use and set Days Allowed for Back Dated Vouchers. It is 0 by default, and Tally measures the window from the date of the most recent voucher entry.
- Lock the year after the audit. In the same role, set the Cut-off Date for Backdated Vouchers to 31 March 2027. Tally says TallyPrime then won't allow that role to record a transaction dated before it, and suggests it for exactly this case: the audit is complete and you don't want the data changed.
- Give everyone their own user. A shared "accounts" login makes any audit trail useless. Each person should sign in to TallyPrime as themselves, with a restricted role.
When should the cut-off go on? Agree the date with your CA before the audit starts. Some businesses keep receiving 2026-27 supplier invoices for months, so decide in advance how late items will be booked, then lock. Keep the administrator role free for corrections your CA approves.
Edit Log: the audit trail behind the lock
Companies have had to keep an audit trail that can't be switched off since 1 April 2023. TallyPrime ships in two forms: the TallyPrime Edit Log release, where the log is always on, and regular TallyPrime, where you can turn it on or off. Open any voucher or master in alteration mode and press Alt+Q to see who changed what and when; the Edit Log Summary shows altered and deleted vouchers across the company. Tally's Edit Log guide has the details. A cut-off date stops new back-dated entries; the Edit Log proves what happened before it.
When and how to split a company in TallyPrime
Splitting is optional. Tally's split company data guide presents it as a way to manage the volume of your data, and as a way to keep separate data for each financial year if that is how you like to work. Most small businesses never need it. Consider it when a company with many years of vouchers takes noticeably long to open or run reports, or when your auditor prefers one company per year.
| Change period (Alt+F2) | Split company (Alt+Y › Split) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Moves your working period to the new year | Creates new companies from the data, before and/or from a split date |
| Every year? | Yes, on 1 April | Only when needed |
| When | Any time; most people do it on 1 April | After the year is finalised and returns are filed |
| Original company | Unchanged; all years stay in it | Kept as it is; new companies are added |
| Carried forward | Ledger balances and pending bills | Balances, with exceptions such as orders and cost-centre balances |
| Needs | A backup first | A backup, the admin password and a clean Verify Data run |
How to split a company in TallyPrime 7.x
- Finish the year first. Tally asks you to finalise the books, complete forex adjustments, settle pending bills and file returns and GST reconciliations before splitting.
- Back up every company, and make sure you have the administrator password. Without it, Tally's FAQ says you can't split directly.
- Verify. Press Alt+Y (Data) › Split › Verify Data, and fix every error it lists. If verification finds damage you can't explain, read our guide to corrupted Tally data before going further.
- Split. Choose Split Data, enter the split date (1-4-2027 for this year) and pick From Split Date, Before Split Date or Into Two Companies.
- Check the new company. Compare its opening Trial Balance and Stock Summary with the original. Then point your users at the right company.
Know the exceptions before you start. According to Tally's split FAQ, sales and purchase orders are not carried forward, cost-centre closing balances aren't either, unreconciled bank entries older than about six months may be dropped from the opening reconciliation, and FIFO Perpetual stock valuation can show differences in the Stock Summary. On TallyPrime Server, the split is noticeably slow, so Tally suggests running it in the regular licensed application. Keep the original, unsplit company and its Edit Log archived for the auditors. If speed is the only reason you're splitting, see our list of fixes for Tally slow in network first.
Backups before and after the year end
Year end is when you most need a backup and when people most often skip it. Three copies matter:
- The closing backup, taken after the last March entries and before the period change or any split. Keep it permanently and label it clearly.
- The pre-split backup, if you split. It is your way back if the new company doesn't tally.
- The audited backup, taken once your CA has signed off and the cut-off date is set. This is the copy you would hand over if anyone later asks what the books showed.
Keep these somewhere other than the computer that runs TallyPrime. Daily automated backups with 30-day retention run on every TallyoCloud server, stored away from the server itself. That covers a bad import last Tuesday, but rolling restore points eventually expire, so a 31 March copy should also live with you for the long term. Companies have a further rule: books kept electronically must be backed up daily on servers physically located in India. Our Tally data backup guide covers the exact backup and restore menus, TallyDrive and how to test a restore.
March–May 2027 dates to plan around
The year end overlaps with a run of filing deadlines. These are the statutory dates as they stand; a notification can move any of them, so check the GST and income-tax portals before you file.
- ITLast advance tax instalmentFor businesses and professionals who pay advance tax.
- Year endsLast vouchers, stock and cash count, closing backup.
- New year opensAlt+F2 to the new period; restart invoice numbering.
- GSTGSTR-1 for MarchMonthly filers. Quarterly (QRMP) filers file GSTR-1 for January–March by 13 April.
- GSTGSTR-3B for MarchMonthly filers. QRMP filers: 22 or 24 April, depending on the state.
- ITTDS deposit for MarchThe one month with a longer deadline than the usual 7th.
- ITQ4 TDS statementsFor January–March deductions.
The full month-by-month view, counted from today's date, is in the due-date calendar on our support page. If you sign GST returns or income-tax filings with a USB token, read how a DSC token works with Tally on Cloud before the April rush, not during it.
Year end on Tally on Cloud: extra seats and auditor access
Everything above is the same whether TallyPrime runs on an office PC or on a cloud server, because it's the same Windows application. What changes is the logistics around it.
- One live company, not three copies. On a private server everyone, from the accountant to your CA, opens the same company, so there are no pen-drive copies to merge after the audit. That is the core of our Tally on Cloud for CA firms set-up.
- Extra hands for March and April. Add a login for an extra accountant or your auditor and remove it when the season ends. That is ₹799 per user a month plus GST while the login exists, the same rate as every other user; the pricing page has every plan.
- Licences count sessions. Each simultaneous TallyPrime session on a server uses a Tally Virtual User: Silver includes one, Gold includes ten, and extra packs come from Tally. Our TVU guide explains the arithmetic.
- Heavy jobs run on the server. Verify Data, a split or a big report uses the server's processor and disk, not your laptop's, and you can start them from a Mac, a Windows PC or an iPad.
- Help on the busy days. Support 7 days a week, and our support page covers connecting, printing and restores.
If you want next year's closing to happen on the cloud, move before the rush. Start a free 7-day trial in February so migration, printers and logins are settled by March. A private server starts at ₹799 a month plus GST, and your TallyPrime licence stays in your name.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to close the financial year in TallyPrime?
Not in the old sense. TallyPrime has no year-closing entry or button: one company holds many years, and closing balances carry forward automatically when you change the period to the new year with Alt+F2. What matters is reconciling accounts before 31 March, keeping a full backup of the closing position and locking the old year against back-dated changes once your CA has finalised it.
How do I transfer closing balances to the next financial year in TallyPrime?
You don't transfer them by hand. Open the company, press Alt+F2 at the Gateway of Tally and set the period from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2028. Tally's help says balances from the previous year are carried forward automatically, while the company's Books beginning from date stays unchanged. Then compare the 1 April Trial Balance with the 31 March one before anyone enters new vouchers.
When should I split a company in TallyPrime?
Split only when a company has grown large enough to load or report slowly, or when you want separate data for each year, and only after the year is finalised and its returns are filed. Take a full backup, then use Alt+Y › Split: verify the data first, then split. The original company stays as it is, and sales and purchase orders are not carried into the new one.
How do I stop back-dated entries in last year's books?
Switch on user access first: Alt+K › Alter, and set Control User Access to Company Data to Yes. Then, under Alt+K › User Roles, give each staff role a Cut-off Date for Backdated Vouchers, such as 31 March 2027; TallyPrime won't let that role record a transaction before it. Keep Edit Log on so any change stays traceable, and agree the date with your CA.
Should I restart voucher numbering on 1 April?
For sales invoices, usually yes. The CGST Rules require tax invoice numbers to be unique for a financial year, so most businesses start a fresh series or add a year prefix on 1 April. In TallyPrime, open Alt+G › Alter Master › Voucher Type, pick the voucher type and fill in Restart Numbering with an applicable-from date of 1 April 2027 and the periodicity you want.
Can my CA audit the books if TallyPrime runs on the cloud?
Yes. Instead of a pen-drive backup, your CA gets their own login to your private server and works on the live company. Give them a TallyPrime user with a suitable role. Each simultaneous session uses a Tally Virtual User from your licence: Silver includes one and Gold includes ten. You can add the login for the audit season and remove it afterwards.
Sources we checked
Menu paths were checked against Tally Solutions' help for TallyPrime 7.1 on 2026-10-06. Menus can move between releases; press F1 › About to see yours. If something here has changed, tell us and we'll correct it.
- Tally Solutions: Moving to the next financial year, Split company data and its FAQ
- Tally Solutions: Manage users in TallyPrime and Edit Log in TallyPrime
- Tally Solutions: GSTR-2B reconciliation, bank reconciliation and stock valuation FAQ
- CGST Act, 2017, section 16(4), and CGST Rules, 2017, rule 46 (tax invoice serial numbers)