E-Way Bill - A way Forward to One National Market

Introduction

1. Implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) across India with effect from 1st of July, 2017 was a very significant step taken by the Government of India. The key objective to bring in this reform was to make India "one nation one tax". The salient feature of GST was to bring uniformity in the taxation system across India. In line with, this thinking the Government introduced E-way bill system as a part of GST compliance tool. It is an online mechanism for quick and easy movement of goods across India without any hindrance. It has done away with the annoyance to be standing in long queers at the inter-State check-posts. Now, there is no requirement of separate transit pass for every State as per the prevailing road permits system. One E-way bill will be valid throughout the country for the movement of goods.

E-way bill details

2. E-way bill is a document to be generated from the common portal, i.e., 'ewaybill.nic.in' after filling the required information. It shall be required as and when the goods are being shifted for transportation.

It is to be carried by a person in charge of the conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding fifty thousand rupees as mandated by the Government in terms of Section 68 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, read with Rule 138 and 138A of the rules framed thereunder. However, in case of transportation of goods by way of air or rail or vessel, person-in-charge shall not be liable to carry the said document.

E-way bill system has become mandatory w.e.f 1st April, 2018 for inter-State movement of goods. For Intra-State, except Karnataka, E-way Bill has kicked-off and shall be implemented in a phased manner.

Online E-way bill portal

3. To implement the E-way Bill system effectively an Information and communication (ICT) based solution was required. In this regard, a web based solution has been designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) as approved by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council. NIC is a Government department under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. This portal is a single national level platform where one can generate the multiple number of E-way bills from anywhere and at any time.

Requirement of E-way Bill:

4. E-way bill is required to be generated by a person causing movement of goods, where the consignment value exceeds the specified limit except in cases of exempt supply.

The consignment value shall be calculated as under:

The transaction value

Add: the taxes (CGST/IGST/SGST/UTGST/Compensation Cess)

Less: the value of exempt supply of goods where the invoice is issued in respect of both exempt and taxable supply of goods

For this purpose, supply shall be either a supply made for consideration which may or may not be in the course of business or a supply made without consideration.

Where goods are sent by a principal located in one State or Union territory to a job worker located in any other State or Union territory, the E-way bill shall be generated either by the principal or by the job worker, if registered, irrespective of the value of the consignment.

Responsibility to Generate E-way Bill:

5. The responsibility to generate the E-way shall be upon the nature of transaction being made by the Supplier and the recipient of Goods. E.g. ABC is the company who needs to generate the E-way bill as a supplier of Goods. Here, roles and responsibilities can be defined among different stakeholder as illustrated below:

Part B may be furnished by the transporter of the goods except in case of railways, air or vessel. Further, Supplier can authorize the transporter, courier agency and e-commerce operator to fill even Part-A of E-way bill on his behalf.

6. Generation of E-way bill through common online portal:

Step 1: Visit the E-way bill Online Portal on 'ewaybill.nic.in'

Every supplier causing movement of goods can register on the E-way bill portal and create his user credentials to use the system with the help of GSTIN, registered mobile no. and E-mail ID. In case transporter is small operator and not registered under the GST, then this system provides the mechanism to enroll and create his user credentials through ENR- 01, to operate on this system. After filling the form ENR-01, an ID shall be issued to the Transporter which would be required to fill-up the Part B of E-way Bill or to generate the E-way bill.

Step 2: Generate the E-way bill

The person causing the movement of goods is required to generate E-way bill. There are two parts of the E-way bill form, Part-A and Part B. Part-A generally contains the details of consignor, consignee, invoice, goods and Part-B contains the details of vehicle and transporter. An E-way bill shall be valid only when both the parts have been dully filed up. The following document should be available at the time of generating E-way Bill:

Validity of E-way bill

7. The E-way bill generated shall be valid for,

Each day shall be counted as the period expiring at midnight of the day immediately following the date of generation of E-way bill.

In case of circumstances of Exceptional nature or transshipment, Validity of E-way bill shall be extended by the Commissioner of the State on submission of request by respective user. Request shall be submitted online on E-way bill portal with the sub-option "Extend validity" given under E-way bill option.

The one who generates the E-way bill can extend the validity either 4 hours before the expiry or 4 hours after the expiry of E-way bill. Once validity gets extended, the new E-way bill number gets generated.

Rejection, Cancellation, and Modification of E-way bill

8. Option has been given to the respective stakeholders to reject, cancel and modify E-way bill. After the E-way bill is generated, the details shall be made available to the second party. The person to whom such information has been made available shall communicate his acceptance or rejection within 72hrs from the time of delivery of goods or details being made available to him, whichever is earlier. If the person does not accept or reject the E-way bill within the specified time period, it shall be deemed to be accepted.

If the goods have not been transported or are not as per the details furnished in the E-way Bill, then respective stakeholder may cancel it within 24hrs from the generation. However, if the E-way bill is verified by an Empowered officer then it cannot be cancelled.

Modification in E-way bill is allowed for updating the Vehicle number as there is probability of using more than one vehicle in a single transportation, e.g., if the vehicle in which goods have been transported cannot take the goods to the delivery address due to breakdown or transshipment and the goods are shifted to another vehicle. In this case person shall update the vehicle no. in Part B. This option can be used end number of times. It is to be noted that we cannot modify the E-way for any other reason except specified above. No other part of E-way bill can be updated. Only option with the user is to cancel the existing one and to create the new E-way bill.

E-way Bill not required in certain cases

9. E-way bill shall not be required for movement of goods in the following cases even if the value of goods exceeds Rs. 50,000.

10. Important points for generation of an E-way Bill

The E-way bill is being touted as an anti-evasion measure and would boost tax collections by clamping down on trade happening on cash basis. It would surely bring the transparency in the trade or commerce being effected in the transition period. It is necessitated to smooth the movement and for healthy business environment.