Tracery keeps the accounts, GST, TDS and payroll of an Indian business in one set of books, and prepares a company's income tax return from them. Any figure in those books opens the invoice, bank line or payslip it came from: the voucher your auditor will ask to see.
By invitation for now. We set up each business ourselves, with its owner.
Press a figure to see the papers behind it
| Account | L.F. | Debit ₹ | Credit ₹ |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC Bank, current account | 4 | ||
| Trade receivables | 9 | ||
| Salaries | 31 | ||
| Software and cloud | 36 | ||
| Rent and office | 38 | ||
| Share capital | 1 | ||
| Export sales | 21 | ||
| Sales in India | 22 | ||
| GST to pay | 14 | ||
| TDS to pay | 15 | ||
| Total | 1,03,40,400.00 | 1,03,40,400.00 |
Both columns agree
Behind ₹17,68,000.00 in Trade receivables
Sales invoice
Harbour and Finch Ltd · US$ 20,000.00 at ₹88.40
Export under LUT · due 30 Oct
Amount17,68,000.00
Bring in the statement as CSV or Excel. Each narration is read for who was paid and how, money coming in is matched to the invoice it settles, and the rest is booked once you agree.
Opening 39,84,610.00Closing 40,17,950.00Each balance follows from the line above
4 of 5 bookedOne waits for youEach running balance is checked against the line before it, the opening and closing against the statement, and days already brought in are left out, so nothing is counted twice.
A line with the same UPI ID, account or payee as one you booked before takes the same category, and says why. Accept it, or change it once and keep the change as a rule.
A line Tracery cannot place waits in Review for a person. Accept all books every sure suggestion at once, and a single undo takes them all back.
Export invoices are billed in their own currency at the FBIL rate of the day, under your LUT. When the money arrives, Tracery lays the remittance advice beside the bank line and the invoice it pays, then books the platform's fee and the gain on exchange. It reads ICICI Bank's advices and certificates, Skydo's certificates and Stripe's payee advices, and anything else can be typed in.
Original for recipient
Tax invoice for an export of services, Kayal Software Private Limited, Kochi
| Service | SAC | US$ |
|---|---|---|
| Software development, July 2026SAC 998314 | 998314 | 20,000.00 |
| Total | US$ 20,000.00 |
06 Sep 2026
From the payment platform
Purpose code checked: payment for an export of services
Statement, September 2026
| Date | Narration | Ref. no. | Deposit ₹ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Sep 2026 | NEFT CR-HARBOUR AND FINCH LTD-INV2627011 | PO2609061743 | 17,61,250.00 |
Posted with the bank line on 06 Sep 2026. The invoice is cleared at its own rate, and the difference is the gain on exchange.
| Particulars | L.F. | Dr ₹ | Cr ₹ |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC Bank, current account Dr.What reached the bank | 4 | 17,61,250.00 | |
| Bank and payment charges Dr.Fees deducted by the platform | 40 | 4,750.00 | |
| To Trade receivables Harbour and Finch Ltd: INV/26-27/011 at its own rate of ₹87.60 | 9 | 17,52,000.00 | |
| To Exchange gain or loss Gain on exchange, ₹88.30 against ₹87.60 | 24 | 14,000.00 | |
| (Being US$ 20,000.00 received from Harbour and Finch Ltd against INV/26-27/011 at ₹88.30, matched with its remittance advice) | |||
| Total | 17,66,000.00 | 17,66,000.00 | |
Teak and Tide Pvt Ltd, Kochi, paid DOM/26-27/005 less the TDS it deducted.
| Value before GST | 1,00,000.00 |
|---|---|
| CGST at 9% | 9,000.00 |
| SGST at 9% | 9,000.00 |
| Invoice total | 1,18,000.00 |
| Received on 26 Aug 2026 | 1,08,000.00 |
| Short | 10,000.00 |
₹10,000.00 is 10% of ₹1,00,000.00, the value before GST: TDS on fees for professional services.
Settled in full. ₹10,000.00 goes to TDS receivable and is matched to the client's TDS when you bring in your Form 168. If it does not show there, you can email the client from Tracery.
An invoice in another currency is valued at the FBIL reference rate of its date, or the latest one before it when none was published that day. It keeps that rate for good: money that arrives at another rate is booked as a gain or loss on exchange.
An export under an LUT goes out without IGST. Tracery keeps the LUT for each GSTIN and year, prints its ARN on the invoice, and will not issue an export dated before the LUT was filed.
RBI expects an export's money in India within a set time of the invoice date: nine months, or twelve for an invoice in rupees from 1 October 2026. Each invoice keeps the rule of its own date, and the export tracker counts down to it.
Set each salary from its CTC. Each month Tracery pays for the days on the rolls less loss of pay, deducts TDS and Kerala's professional tax in the months the law names, and keeps all deductions within half of wages, as the Code on Wages asks. Approve the month and it is locked, posted to the books and sent out as payslips.
Kayal Software Private Limited
Kochi, Kerala
Wage slip, Code on Wages section 50(3)
Anna Thomas
Senior software engineer, Engineering
| Earnings | Rate a month ₹ | Paid ₹ |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pay | 47,500.00 | 47,500.00 |
| Special allowance | 28,500.00 | 28,500.00 |
| House rent allowance | 19,000.00 | 19,000.00 |
| Gross wages | 95,000.00 | 95,000.00 |
| Deductions | Amount ₹ |
|---|---|
| Recovery of salary advance of ₹30,000 | 10,000.00 |
Note: No TDS: the rebate takes her tax for the year to nil. | |
Note: Professional tax, ₹1,250.00, went with August pay; next, February. | |
| Total deductions | 10,000.00 |
Net pay in wordsEighty Five Thousand Rupees Only
Net pay₹85,000.00
Issued electronically.
Allowances the Code leaves out, such as house rent allowance, count back in for whatever runs past half of all pay.
| Part | A month, ₹ | Under the Code |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pay | 47,500.00 | Wages |
| Special allowance | 28,500.00 | Wages |
| House rent allowance | 19,000.00 | Left out |
| Counted back, past half of pay | Nil | |
| Wages under the Code | 76,000.00 |
Basic at 50% of CTC, her salary: wages under the Code ₹76,000.00 a month. ₹19,000.00 is left out, which is within half of pay, so wages are just the parts that count. Deductions may take up to half of those, ₹38,000.00 a month, and her advance takes ₹10,000.00.
New regime, tax year 2026-27. TDS spreads the year's tax over the months left.
| Working | Amount, ₹ |
|---|---|
| Pay for the year, 12 × ₹95,000.00 | 11,40,000.00 |
| Less standard deduction | 75,000.00 |
| Income | 10,65,000.00 |
| 5% on ₹4,00,000.00 to ₹8,00,000.00 | 20,000.00 |
| 10% on ₹8,00,000.00 to ₹10,65,000.00 | 26,500.00 |
| Tax on the slabs | 46,500.00 |
| Less rebate, as income is within ₹12,00,000.00 | 46,500.00 |
| Tax for the year | Nil |
| TDS in September | Nil |
Under the old regime, with nothing claimed, her tax for the year would be ₹1,44,300.00. Tracery works out both and shows which costs less.
Each return and payment sits on the day the law gives it. Tracery works out GST, TDS and the company's income tax from your books, and reminds whoever looks after each one, ahead of time and on the day. On Mondays they get the coming two weeks by email, and unless you change it, owners hear when one is three days late.
As it stands on Monday 19 October 2026. Press an entry to open its docket.
| Return | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TDSPay by the 7th | ||||||
| GSTR-1File by the 11th | ||||||
| GSTR-3BFile and pay by the 20th | ||||||
| TDS returnsEach quarter | ||||||
| Income taxAdvance tax and ITR-6 | ||||||
| YearlyCompany law, LUT, professional tax |
| Return | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TDSPay by the 7th | |||||||
| GSTR-1File by the 11th | |||||||
| GSTR-3BFile and pay by the 20th | |||||||
| TDS returnsEach quarter | |||||||
| Income taxAdvance tax and ITR-6 | |||||||
| YearlyCompany law, LUT, professional tax | |||||||
Due Tuesday 20 October 2026, every month
Due tomorrow, the next thing due
7, 3 and 1 days before, and on the day, in the app and by email, to whoever it is given to, or else the owners and accountants. It is in every Monday email from two weeks out, and 3 days late the owners are told as well. Owners and accountants can change all of this in Settings.
Any change made through Tracery is written to the trail in the same step: who made it and when, the record, each value before and after, and the reason where one is asked for. Each entry is sealed with SHA-256 over what it holds and the seal before it, and no setting turns the trail off.
Merin Jose, Accountant
Booked ₹8,420.00 paid on 5 Sep 2026 from HDFC Bank, current account to Electricity
Made over the seal before it, aa7c691b
Its seal, 9d2d106aIt matches.
Thomas Kurian, Chartered accountant
Locked Books: August 2026
Made over the seal before it, 9d2d106a
Its seal, 79acdc9aIt matches.
Merin Jose, Accountant
Issued tax invoice INV/26-27/014 to Harbour and Finch Ltd for $20,000.00
Made over the seal before it, 79acdc9a
Its seal, b97ac1c1It matches.
Joseph Varghese, Owner. Shown only to people who may see salaries.
Approved the pay for September 2026: ₹4,86,400 net for 8 people
Made over the seal before it, b97ac1c1
Its seal, 85f7258bIt matches.
Sneha Mathew, HR and payroll. Shown only to people who may read employee records.
Changed employee Jibin Joseph (EMP006)
DesignationSoftware engineer to Senior software engineer
Made over the seal before it, 85f7258b
Its seal, 81cf2ec1It matches.
Thomas Kurian, Chartered accountant
Downloaded the audit trail as a CSV file
Made over the seal before it, 81cf2ec1
Its seal, 4c7f6aa2It matches.
Suppose someone with a copy of the database cut the September invoice to a tenth and left its seal untouched. Your browser then works out every seal again, each over the one before.
Each seal as written on its entry.
The database refuses to change or remove an entry, but for one thing: clearing the personal details an entry held once they are erased.
The year's report gives your auditor the seal check, the guards, and the entries by month, kind of record and person, with the seal of the year's last entry to keep with the working papers.
Entries about pay show only to people who may see salaries, and personal details only to those who may read employee records. Only owners see the network address a change came from.
Nothing in Tracery removes an entry. The trail is kept as long as the books: eight years, by section 128(5) of the Companies Act, 2013.
Only owners let people in, each with a role: the accountant, HR, your CA, and the auditor, who reads only the years they audit. Employees see their own pay and nothing else. Tracery support reads your books only once an owner agrees, and only for the hours they allow.
Only owners let people in, change what they can open, or take it away.
| No. | Name and access | Booksbank, sales, bills | ReturnsGST, TDS, ITR | Payrollpay runs | Salarieseach person's pay | Documentsfiles kept | Settingsthe business | Teamwho is let in | My payown payslips |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Owner, Director | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it, and approves pay runs | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Cannot open |
| 2 | Accountant, sees salaries | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Read only | Read only | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Cannot open | Cannot open |
| 3 | HR and payroll | Cannot open | Cannot open | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open |
| 4 | Chartered accountant, Thomas Kurian and Co | Opens and works in it | Opens and works in it | Cannot open | Cannot open | Opens and works in it | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open |
| 5 | Auditor for 2025-26, Statutory auditor | Read only | Read only | Cannot open | Cannot open | Read only | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open |
| 6 | Employee | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Opens and works in it |
| 7 | Viewer, Investor | Read only | Read only | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open | Cannot open |
Owner, Director
Sees and does everything, approves payroll and big actions, and manages the team.
A CA signs in once and moves between the businesses they look after, in each one with the role that business gave them.
Asked
Liya George
Tracery support
To look at the September statement import you asked us about.
Read only, for 1 day. It ends by itself, and an owner can end it sooner.
Open until7 Oct 2026, 11:20 am
Approved by Joseph Varghese, owner, 6 Oct 2026, 11:20 am
CA pack
Tally export
Tracery is named after the stonework of a Gothic window, which holds each pane of glass apart. In this one, the arch is the one way in, the two lights are your books and your files, and the four foils are the only openings, each opened only at your business's word.
Every request reaches your books through one door, which checks who is asking and what their role may open. People sign in with a six digit code from their email, good for 10 minutes and five tries, or a passkey. A sign in ends after seven days unused and is logged for a year, and your account lists each device, any of which you can sign out.
Each business's books are kept in a database of their own, separate from every other business on Tracery. Each change to them is written to their audit trail in the same step.
Bills, payslips and exports are stored as files, away from the books. Each opens through a signed link that stops working after 15 minutes, from a separate address that never sees your sign in.
Only owners let people in, each with a role that decides what they can open. Salaries show only to those an owner allows, employees see their own pay and nothing else, and an owner can change a role or take it away.
Your CA works under the role you give them, and moves between their clients with one sign in. An auditor reads only the years they audit, and an adjustment they propose is posted only if an owner approves it.
Tracery's staff read your books only through a support request an owner approves: read only, for the hours the owner allows and never more than a week. It ends by itself, an owner can end it sooner, and each step is written to your audit trail.
It stays off unless your business asks Tracery to switch it on, and so does the Ask chat, which has its own switch. Nothing goes to a language model while they are off. When they are on, each request passes through a gateway that keeps no log of it, and Tracery keeps no Ask conversation: it lives in your open tab and goes when you close it.
An owner can download the whole business at any time: every table as CSV and every stored file, in ZIP parts kept for them for seven days. Under the DPDP Act, each person can download their own data, ask for a correction or erasure, or complain, with an answer within 90 days, and can name up to three people to act for them. Read the privacy notice.
These are screens of Tracery taken from a demo business with made up books: the same Kayal Software as above, with its owner signed in. Lettered loops mark what to look at, and the key under each screen says what they show.
Screens to show
What the owner sees first. Home, as the owner, Joseph Varghese, sees it on 6 October 2026.
Tracery takes businesses by invitation for now. We open each set of books with the owner, so they start right. Write in your business name to ask.
Name of account: Your business
Already invited? Sign in
Tell us at hello@tracery.in what the business does and who works in it.
We set up the business on Tracery and invite you as its owner.
With a code sent to your email, and later a passkey on your phone or laptop. There is no password to remember.
Opening balances from the day your books start, bank statements, clients, and the people who work with you.