An insight into E-way bill

Sec 68 of CGST Act 2017 read with rule 138

A way bill is a receipt or a document issued by a carrier giving details and instructions relating to the shipment of a consignment of goods and the details include name of consignor, consignee, the point of origin of the consignment, its destination, and route.

Electronic Way Bill (E-Way Bill) is basically a compliance mechanism wherein by way of a digital interface the person causing the movement of goods uploads the relevant information prior to the commencement of movement of goods and generates e-way bill on the GST portal.

The e-way Bill System for Inter-State movement of goods across the country has been introduced from 01 April 2018. e-Way Bill is mandatory for Inter-State movement of goods of consignment value exceeding Rs.50,000/- in motorized conveyance.

Co mponents Of E way Bill

E-way bill is an electronic document generated on the GST portal evidencing movement of goods. It has two Components

• Part A comprising of details of GSTIN of recipient, place of delivery (PIN Code), invoice or challan number and date, value of goods, HSN code, transport document number (Goods Receipt Number or Railway Receipt Number or Airway Bill Number or Bill of Lading Number) and reasons for transportation; and
• Part B comprising of transporter details (Vehicle number). As per Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017,every registered person who causes movement of goods (which may not necessarily be on account of supply) of consignment value more than Rs. 50000/- is required to furnish above mentioned information in part A of e-way bill. The part B containing transport details helps in generation of e-way

Purpose Of E way Bill

E-way bill is a mechanism to ensure that goods being transported comply with the GST Law and is an effective tool to track movement of goods and check tax evasion.

Who should generate the E way Bill and why?

E-way bill is to be generated by the consignor or consignee himself if the transportation is being done in own/hired conveyance or by railways by air or by Vessel. If the goods are handed over to a transporter for transportation by road, E-way bill is to be generated by the Transporter. Where neither the consignor nor consignee generates the e-way bill and the value of goods is more than Rs.50,000/- it shall be the responsibility of the transporter to generate it.

Further, it has been provided that where goods are sent by a principal located in one State to a job worker located in any other State, the e-way bill shall be generated by the principal irrespective of the value of the consignment.

Also, where handicraft goods are transported from one State to another by a person who has been exempted from the requirement of obtaining registration, the e-way bill shall be generated by the said person irrespective of the value of the consignment.

Generation Process of E way Bill

An e-way bill contains two parts- Part A to be furnished by the person who is causing movement of goods of consignment value exceeding Rs.50,000/- and part B (transport details) to be furnished by the person who is transporting the goods.

Where the goods are transported by a registered person - whether as consignor or recipient, the said person shall have to generate the e-way bill by furnishing information in GST common portal.

Where the e-way bill is not generated by registered person and the goods are handed over to the transporter for transportation by road, the registered person shall furnish the information relating to the transporter in Part B of GST common portal and the e-way bill shall be generated by the transporter on the said portal on the basis of the information furnished by the registered person in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01.

A registered person may obtain an Invoice Reference Number from the common portal by uploading, on the said portal, a tax invoice issued by him in FORM GST INV-1 and produce the same for verification by the proper officer in lieu of the tax invoice and such number shall be valid for a period of thirty days from the date of uploading.

In the above case, the registered person will not have to upload the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 for generation of e-way bill and the same shall be auto-populated by the common portal on the basis of the information furnished in FORM GST INV-1 .

Upon generation of the e-way bill on the common portal, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) generated by the common portal, shall be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the common portal.

The details of e-way bill generated shall be made available to the recipient, if registered, on the common portal, who shall communicate his acceptance or rejection of the consignment covered by the e-way bill. In case, the recipient does not communicate his acceptance or rejection within seventy- two hours of the details being made available to him on the common portal, it shall be deemed that he has accepted the said details.

Modes of E way Bill Generation

• Using Web based system: Using the web based system on common portal
• Using SMS based facility: The taxpayer has to register the mobile numbers through which he intends to generate the e-way bill on the e-way bill system.
• Using Android App: The mobile app is available only for the taxpayers and enrolled transporters. It is not available in Play Store. The main user has to login and select the ‘for mobile app’ under registration menu. The system asks to select the user/sub-user and enter the IMEI number of the user. Once it is entered, the concerned user gets the link in his registered mobile to download the app through SMS. Now, the user has to download the app by clicking that link and enable it to get installed on the mobile.
• Bulk generation facility: Through this facility, user can upload multiple invoices and generate multiple e-Way bill at one go. This facility can be used by the taxpayers or transporters who have automated their invoice generation system. In one go, they can prepare bulk requests for e-way bills in a file from their automated system, and upload it on the common portal and generate e-way bill in one go. This avoids duplicate data entry into e-way bill system and avoids data entry mistakes also. Any taxpayer or transporter can use the bulk generation facility.
• Using Site-to-Site integration: The integration between e-way bill system and registered persons’ system can be done through APIs. For availing this facility, the registered person should register the server details of his/her systems (through which he wants to generate the e-way bill using the APIs of e-way bill system) with e-way bill system.
• Using GSP (Goods and Services Tax Suvidha Provider)

Validity of E way Bill

The validity of e-way bill depends on the distance to be travelled by the goods. For a distance of less than 100 Km the e-way bill will be valid for a day from the relevant date. For every 100 Km thereafter, the validity will be additional one day from the relevant date. The “relevant date” shall mean the date on which the e-way bill has been generated and the period of validity shall be counted from the time at which the e-way bill has been generated and each day shall be counted as twenty-four hours. In general, the validity of the e-way bill cannot be extended. However, Commissioner may extend the validity period only by way of issue of notification for certain categories of goods which shall be specified later.

Further, if under circumstances of an exceptional nature, the , but goods are either not transported or are not transported as per the details furnished in the e-way bill, the e-way bill may be cancelled electronically on the common portal, either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner, within 24 hours of generation of the e-way bill. However, an e-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit in accordance with the provisions of rule 138B of the CGST Rules, 2017 .

E way Bill not required in following cases

No e-way bill is required to be generated in the following cases.

• Transport of goods as specified in Annexure of Sec 138 of CGST act 2017
• goods being transported by a non-motorised conveyance;
• goods being transported from the port, airport, air cargo complex and land customs station to an inland container depot or a container freight station for clearance by Customs;
• in respect of movement of goods within such areas as are notified under rule 138(14) (d) of the SGST Rules, 2017 of the concerned State; and
• Consignment value less than Rs. 50,000/-

Consequences of Non conformance of E way bill rules

If e-way bills, wherever required, are not issued in accordance with the provisions contained in Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017, the same will be considered as contravention of rules. As per Section 122 of the CGST Act, 2017, a taxable person who transports any taxable goods without the cover of specified documents (e-way bill is one of the specified documents) shall be liable to a penalty of Rs.10,000/- or tax sought to be evaded (wherever applicable) whichever is greater. As per Section 129 of CGST Act, 2017, where any person transports any goods or stores any goods while they are in transit in contravention of the provisions of this Act or the rules made there under, all such goods and conveyance used as a means of transport for carrying the said goods and documents relating to such goods and conveyance shall be liable to detention or seizure.

Conclusion

The allotment of e-way bills is to eliminate the waybill systems have been extensively used and taken advantage of in certain states in the country.

This billing system will bring in a uniform mode of transaction payments across the country, and will also pave way for further digitalization that will facilitate the movement of goods at a faster rate.

Every effort has been taken to provide a deep insight about this topic and to cover all important areas of it any suggestions and improvements are highly appreciated.