Multi-branch and multi-company billing: one login, separate books

When a business opens its second location, the usual answer from desktop software is a second installation, a second set of books and a monthly merge in Excel. A system designed for more than one location instead keeps one set of masters, separate books per registration, separate stock and numbering per branch, and a head office view that adds them up without anyone exporting anything. Getting the boundaries right is mostly a GST question, not a software preference.

The four levels, and what they mean

The line that matters most is between company and branch. A separate GSTIN means a separate person in the eyes of GST, with its own returns and its own credit ledger. Two branches under one GSTIN are one person, which changes how stock moving between them is treated.

When a stock transfer becomes a supply

• Between two branches under the same GSTIN in the same state: not a supply. Move the stock, keep a delivery challan, no tax invoice.
• Between two registrations of the same business in different states: a supply between distinct persons. It needs a tax invoice, and tax is charged, with the receiving registration taking the credit.
• Either way, a movement of goods above the value threshold needs an e-way bill, including a movement that is not a supply. See the e-way bill portal for the current limits, which vary for movement inside a state.
• Valuation between distinct persons has its own rules, and where the recipient is entitled to full credit the invoice value is generally accepted as the open market value. Agree the approach with your accountant once and then let the software follow it.

Software should therefore know whether a transfer is between branches of one company or between companies, and produce the right document without the operator deciding. If your system has one screen called stock transfer that behaves identically in both cases, someone will eventually move goods across a state line without an invoice.

What to share and what to keep apart

1. Share the item catalogue, HSN masters and units. One item code meaning two different things across branches is the most expensive kind of mess to unwind.
2. Share customer and supplier masters, with balances held per company, so the same party is one record with separate books.
3. Keep invoice numbering per branch and per financial year, because a duplicate invoice number in one GSTIN is a return problem.
4. Keep stock per branch, valued per branch, so a stock summary answers where the goods actually are.
5. Keep cash and bank per branch, because that is how they are counted at the end of the day.
6. Keep rates flexible: a branch in another city may need its own price level without a separate item.

In Tatva ERP that structure is the product's spine: a business holds companies, each with a GSTIN, each holding branches, and a user carries a role plus the list of branches they are allowed into. One key switches company, branch and financial year. Isolation is enforced in the database itself with row-level security, not only in the application, so a query without the right business is refused even if the code forgets to filter.

What the head office should see

The owner's question is never a single branch. It is which branch is behind, and where is the money. A head office view should put every branch in the same table, on the same day, without a consolidation step.

• Sales, returns and purchases per branch for today and for the month.
• Receipts and payments, and cash and bank balances, per branch.
• Stock value per branch, and the items that are out of stock in one branch and overstocked in another.
• A daily trend line per branch, so a bad week is visible in the week rather than in the month-end report.
• Registers that can be read for one branch or for all branches together, with drill-down to the bill.

The value of that last point is worth stating plainly: when a figure looks wrong, the person looking at it must be able to reach the underlying bill in two clicks. A consolidated report that cannot be drilled into gets mistrusted, and a mistrusted report gets rebuilt in Excel, which is where you started.

Permissions across branches

Multi-branch makes access control a real requirement rather than a checkbox. The rules worth setting from day one: who may bill in which branch, who may change a rate or give a discount, who may cancel a bill, who may make a back-dated entry, and who may see other branches at all. These should be enforced on the server, not by hiding buttons, and the difference is easy to test: ask the vendor what happens if a user who cannot cancel a bill tries the direct link to the cancel action.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a separate GSTIN for each branch?

One registration per state in which you have a place of business, as a rule. Several shops in the same state normally run under one GSTIN as additional places of business, while a shop in another state needs its own registration. Registration inside one state can also be taken separately for distinct business verticals, which is a choice rather than a requirement. Confirm your own case on the GST portal or with your accountant.

Is a stock transfer between my own branches taxable?

Not between branches under the same GSTIN; move the goods on a delivery challan. Between two of your registrations in different states it is a supply between distinct persons, needs a tax invoice and carries tax, which the receiving registration claims as credit. Both cases may still need an e-way bill for the movement itself.

Can one person see all branches from a single login?

That is the point of a multi-branch system. The owner or head office user gets every branch and a combined view; a counter user gets only their own branch. Both use one login and one system, which is what makes the head office numbers current rather than reconstructed.