E-Way Bill under GST
Introduction
In its 22nd meeting, the GST Council decided and recommended that the e-way bill under GST shall be introduced in a staggered manner from 1st January, 2018, and will be rolled out nationwide from 1st April, 2018. However, at the recently concluded 24th GST Council meeting held on 16th December, 2017, it was announced that the e-way bill will be launched from the 1st of February, 2018 – a full two months ahead of the earlier plan.
Why has the e-way bill been preponed?
The e-way bill GST provisions had primarily targeted a single national level e-way bill, which could be used by suppliers and transporters all across the country. Till such time as this national e-way bill was ready, the States were authorized to continue their own separate e-way bill systems. However the GST Council received several representations from the trade and transporter communities, stating that this was causing an unnecessary bottleneck to the inter-State movement of goods, prompting the need for an earlier implementation of the e-way bill. As a result the GST Council, reviewed the readiness of the hardware and software required for the nationwide rollout of e-way bill, and has announced the renewed date, post discussions with all the States.
What is GST E-Way Bill?
Under GST, the process and procedural aspects for the movement of goods are prescribed in the e-way bill rules. E-way bill stands for Electronic Way Bill. It is usually a unique bill number generated for the specific consignment involving the movement of goods. However, it is to be noted that the e-way bill implementation was deferred when GST came into being on the 1st of July, in order to give more time to the government, businesses and transporters to prepare for its full and final implementation. States like Gujarat continued to have Form 402 in GST, and clear rules were laid down as to how to help businesses fill a GST Form 402 online till the implementation of the GST e-way bill is complete
When is the E-Way Bill applicable?
It is applicable for any consignment value exceeding INR 50,000. Even in case of inward supply of goods from unregistered person, E-Way Bill is applicable.
When should the E-Way Bill be generated?
The E-Way Bill needs to be generated before the commencement of movement of goods
What is the validity of E-Way Bill?
- Less than 100 KM: 1 Day
- Every 100 Km or part thereof thereafter – 1 additional day
The validity period will be counted from the time of generation of the E-Way Bill. The validity period of the E-Way Bill may be extended by the commissioner for certain categories of goods, as specified in the notification issued in this regard.
Who should generate the E-Way Bill?
- When goods are transported by a registered person, either acting as a consignee or consignor in his own vehicle, hired vehicle, railways, by air or by vessel, the supplier or recipient of the goods should generate the E-Way Bill.
- When the goods are handed over to a transporter, the E-Way Bill should be generated by the transporter. In this case, the registered person should declare the details of the goods in a common portal.
- In case of inward supplies from an unregistered person, either the recipient of supply or the transporter should generate the E-Way Bill.
How to generate the E-Way Bill?
Form GST EWB-01 is an E-Way Bill form. It contains Part A, where the details of the goods are furnished, and Part B contains vehicle number.
Can E-Way Bill be generated for consignments of value less than INR 50,000?
Yes, either a registered person or a transporter can generate an E-Way Bill although it may not be mandatory.
What happens if multiple consignments are transported in one vehicle?
The transporter should generate a consolidated E-Way Bill in the Form GST EWB 02 and separately indicate the serial number of E-Way Bill for each of the consignment.
On generation of E-Way Bill, will there be any reference number generated?
Upon generation of the E-Way Bill, on the common portal, a unique E-Way Bill number called ‘EBN’ will be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter.
What happens if goods are transferred from one vehicle to another vehicle in the course of transit?
Before transferring the goods to another vehicle and making any further movement of such goods, the transporter needs to update the details of conveyance in the E-Way Bill on the common portal in Form GST EWB 01.
Note: If goods are transported for a distance of less than ten kilometres within the State or Union territory from the place of business of the transporter finally to the place of business of the consignee, updating the details of conveyance in the E-Way Bill is not mandatory.
What happens if the consignor does not generate the E-Way Bill even though the value of consignment is more than INR 50,000?
The transporter has to generate the E-Way Bill in Form GST EWB 01 on the basis of the invoice, bill of supply or the delivery challan.
What happens if E-Way Bill is generated but goods are not transported?
The E-Way Bill can be cancelled electronically on the common portal within 24 hours of its generation. The E-Way Bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified by an officer during transit.
Will the E-Way Bill be made available for acceptance to the recipient of goods?
Yes, the details of the E-Way Bill will be made available for the recipient of goods only if he is registered. The recipient of goods should communicate acceptance or rejection of the consignment covered by the E-Way Bill within 72 hours of the details being made available.
What happens if recipient of goods does not communicate the acceptance of rejection within 72 hours?
If the recipient of goods doesn’t communicate acceptance or rejection within 72 hours, it will be deemed as accepted by the recipient.
Is there a facility to generate or cancel the E-Way Bill through SMS?
The facility of generation and cancellation of E-Way Bill will be made available through SMS.
Documents, Inspection and Verification for E-Way Bill
The transporter or the person in charge of a conveyance should carry the following documents:
- The invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan, and
- A physical copy of the E-Way Bill or the E-Way Bill number.
At the place of verification, the officer may intercept any vehicle to verify the E-Way Bill or the E-Way Bill number in physical form for all interstate and intrastate movement of goods. On the ground of suspicion of tax evasion, a physical verification of the vehicle can be carried out by an officer after obtaining necessary approval from the commissioner or an officer authorized on his behalf. If the physical verification of vehicle is done at one place –within the state or in any other state, no further physical verification will be carried out again during the transit, unless specific information of tax evasion is made available subsequently.
After every inspection, the officer needs to record the details of the inspection of goods in Part A of Form GST EWB 03 within 24 hrs of inspection and the final report must be recorded in Part B of Form GST EWB 03 within 3 days of inspection. If the vehicle is detained for more than 30 minutes, the transporter has an option to complain by uploading the details in Form GST EWB 04.
GST E-Way Bill Format
The E-Way Bill format in GST comprises of 2 parts – Part A and Part B.
The Part A of E-Way Bill in Form EWB 01 aims to collect the details of consignment, usually the invoice details. Accordingly, the following details need to be captured.
- GSTIN of Recipient: Mention the GSTIN number of the recipient.
- Place of Delivery: Here you must mention the Pin Code of the place where goods are delivered.
- Invoice or Challan Number: Mention the Invoice or Challan number against which the goods are supplied.
- Value of Goods: Mention the consignment value of goods.
- HSN Code:Enter the HSN code of goods which are transported. If your turnover is up to INR 5 crores, you need to mention the first 2 digits of HSN code. If it is more than INR 5 crores, 4 digits of HSN code are required.
- Reason for Transportation: The reason for transportation is pre-defined and you need to select the most appropriate option from the list. The pre-defined list contains the following options as shown in the table below.
- Transport Document Number: This indicates either one of the Goods Receipt Number, Railway Receipt Number, Airway Bill Number or Bill of Lading Number.
In Part B of Form EWB 01, the vehicle number in which goods are transported needs to be mentioned. This will be filed by the transporter in the common portal.
Important E-way bill Dates
The major GST recommendations with regards to the e-way bill are as follows:
- The nationwide e-way bill system will be rolled out on a trial basis, latest by 16th January, 2018, post which traders and transporters can start using this system on a voluntary basis.
- The detailed rules for implementation of the nationwide e-way bill system for inter-State movement of goods on a compulsory basis will be notified with effect from 1st February, 2018.
- While the system to generate both inter-State and intra-State e-way bill will be ready by 16th January, 2018, the States may choose their own timings for implementation of e-way bill for intra-State movement of goods on any date before 1st June, 2018. However, since there are certain States which are already having a system of e-way bill for intra-State as well as inter-State movement of goods, they may be expected to be the early adopters of the national e-way bill system for intra-State movement also.
- The final deadline to implement the uniform system of e-way bill for inter-State as well as intra-State movement across the country will be, the1st of June, 2018 .
| Basis | Inter-State | Intra-State |
| Voluntary E-way bill Implementation Starts | 16-1-2018 | 16-1-2018 |
| Compulsory E-way bill Implementation Starts | 1-2-2018 | No Fixed Date. States can choose to implement any date before 1-6-2018 |
| Final Deadline for E-way bill Implementation | 1-6-2018 | 1-6-2018 |