GSTR-2B ITC statement, now through the API

GSTR-2B is an auto-drafted statement the GST network itself generates for every registered taxpayer, listing the input tax credit available for a return period. It is built from what the taxpayer’s suppliers filed: their GSTR-1 (or the Invoice Furnishing Facility for quarterly filers), plus GSTR-5 for non-resident suppliers, GSTR-6 for input service distributors, and import data from the customs system. The CGST Rules provide for this statement to be made available to every registered person.

Unlike a registration lookup or a filing-history check, which read live data that can change between two calls, GSTR-2B for a period is generated once and then stays fixed. That is deliberate: it is meant to be the number a taxpayer actually reconciles against and uses when filing their own GSTR-3B for that period, not a running total that keeps moving under them.

• GSTR-2A keeps changing. It reflects supplier filings as they happen, so a figure read today can be different next week if a supplier files late or amends an earlier return.
• GSTR-2B is generated for a period and then frozen. Once generated, it does not move for that period unless someone explicitly asks the GST network to regenerate it.
• GSTR-2B is the one tied to how much input tax credit can actually be claimed for a period; GSTR-2A is a continuously-updating view of the same underlying supplier filings, useful for watching what is coming before a period closes.

As far as we know, the CGST Rules restrict a taxpayer’s input tax credit claim to what is reflected in their GSTR-2B for that period — not to what the taxpayer’s own books say is owed. A credit that a supplier has not yet reported, whatever the reason, does not show up in GSTR-2B and, under that rule, cannot be claimed for the period until it does. This is also why many businesses chase suppliers to file on time: a supplier’s delay becomes the buyer’s cash-flow problem.

That makes GSTR-2B the figure worth checking before filing a GSTR-3B, not after, and the reason a statement that only updates once a month on the GST portal is worth being able to pull through an API on demand instead.

The GSTIN has to be connected once, the same one-time GST-portal OTP consent GSTR-1/GSTR-3B return filing already uses: in the dashboard, under GSTR-2B & GST Return Filing, enter the GST-portal username and read back the OTP sent to the registered mobile or email. The connection lasts about six hours and covers any number of calls in that window.

With a connected GSTIN, POST /v1/gstr2b/fetch returns the statement for a GSTIN and return period (MMYYYY) with your API key. If a statement does not yet exist for that period, POST /v1/gstr2b/generate asks the GST network to generate it on demand, and POST /v1/gstr2b/generate/status polls that request.

Add "test_mode": true to any of the three calls for a synthetic response that never reaches the GST network and costs nothing, to build against the shape before the first real call.

1. Connect the GSTIN once in the dashboard (GSTR-2B & GST Return Filing).
2. Call POST /v1/gstr2b/generate if a statement for that period does not exist yet, then poll POST /v1/gstr2b/generate/status until it is ready.
3. Call POST /v1/gstr2b/fetch with the GSTIN and return period to get the statement.

Generating and polling a generation request are free. Fetching the statement is charged only on a real success, so a failed or rejected call never costs a credit.

• It is a single statement for one GSTIN and one return period, not a continuously-updating GSTR-2A-style feed.
• It is not a reconciliation tool: it does not match the statement’s lines against a purchase register or flag mismatches for you. It returns what the GST network itself generated.
• This is the first release of GSTR-2B on this API. The exact shape of the data returned can still move as we see more real periods; read it defensively rather than assuming every field is final.