GST E- WAY BILL

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?

An e-way bill has to be generated by you, irrespective of Whether you are registered for GST or not. e-way bill is necessary in the following cases:

• When you move goods of value more than Rs 50,000 within the state.

• When you move any goods outside the state (irrespective of its value, you must generate an e-way bill).

• When you transport handicraft goods (irrespective of its value, you must generate e-way bill).

• When you transport goods up to a distance of 50KM, EWB has to be generated with Part-A details alone and does not require Part-B details.

• When you transport goods by roadways through public or private transports.

During the movement of goods, the person who transports the goods must carry the Invoice or the Bill of Supply or the Delivery Challan and a copy of the e-way bill or atleast the e-way bill Number.

When should the E-Way Bill be generated?

The E-Way Bill needs to be generated before the commencement of movement of goods.

Situations Where E-Way Bill Is Not Required To Be Generated

It is not mandatory to generate e-way bill in the following circumstances:-

1. The goods are transported for a distance less than 10 km within the same state from the place of business of the transporter to the place of business of the consignee.

2. The goods are transported for a distance less than 10 km within the state from the place of business of the consignor to the place of business of the transporter for further transportation.

3. The goods are transported by a non-motorised conveyance.

4. The goods are 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.

5. In respect of specified goods like Jewellery, Personal and Household effects etc which are mentioned in this list – List of Items for which eway bill is not required.

6. In respect of movement of goods within such areas as are notified under clause (d) of sub-rule (14) of rule 138 of the Goods and Services Tax Rules of the concerned state.

In case of Transport of Goods for a distance of more than 10 km but less than 50 km – generation of e-way bill is mandatory but it is not mandatory to mention the details of the conveyance in the e-way bill.

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.

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.

Inter-state implementation of e-way bill to be implemented from 1st April 2018.

Intra-state implementation of EWB to kick-off from 15th April 2018 in a phased manner. States to be divided into 4 lots to execute this phased rollout.

Eway bills in EWB-01 can be generated by either of two methods:

• On the Web

• Via SMS

Step-by-step process of generating the eway bills on the E way bill portal (web-based).

There are some pre-requisites for generating an eway bill (for any method of generation):

• Registration on the EWB portal

• The Invoice/ Bill/ Challan related to the consignment of goods must be in hand.

• If transport is by road – Transporter ID or the Vehicle number.

• If transport is by rail, air, or ship – Transporter ID, Transport document number, and date on the document.

Step 1: Login to eway bill system.

Enter the Username, password and Captcha code, Click on ‘Login’

Step 2: Click on ‘Generate new’ under ‘E-waybill’ option appearing on the left-hand side of the dashboard.

Step 3: Enter the following fields on the screen that appears:

1) Transaction Type:

Select ‘Outward’ if you are a supplier of consignment

Select ‘Inward’ if you are a recipient of consignment.

2)  Sub-type: Select the relevant sub-type applicable to you:

3) Document type: Select either of Invoice / Bill/ challan/ credit note/ Bill of entry or  others if not Listed.

4) Document No. : Enter the document/invoice number.

5) Document Date: Select the date of Invoice or challan or Document.

Note: The system will not allow the user to enter the future date.

6) From/ To: Depending on whether you are a supplier or a recipient, enter the To / From section details.

Note: If the supplier/client is unregistered, then mention ‘URP’ in the field GSTIN, indicating that the supplier/client is an ‘Unregistered Person’.

7) Item Details: Add the details of the consignment (HSN code-wise) in this section:

• Product name

• Description

• HSN Code

• Quantity,

• Unit,

• Value/Taxable value

• Tax rates of CGST and SGST or IGST (in %)

• Tax rate of Cess, if any charged (in %)

Note: On the implementation of Eway bills, Based on the details entered here, corresponding entries can also be auto-populated in the respective GST Return while filing on GST portal.

8) Transporter details: The mode of transport(Road/rail/ship/air) and the approximate distance covered (in KM) needs to be compulsorily mentioned in this part.

Apart from above, Either of the details can be mentioned:

1. Transporter name, transporter ID, transporter Doc. No. & Date.

OR

2. Vehicle number in which consignment is being transported.

Note: For products, clients/customers, suppliers, and transporters that are used regularly, first update the ‘My masters’ section also available on the login dashboard and then proceed.

Step 4: Click on ‘Submit’. The system validates data entered and throws up an error if any.

Otherwise, your request is processed and the eway bill in Form EWB-01 form with a unique 12 digit number is generated.

Print and carry the eway bill for transporting the goods in the selected mode of transport and the selected conveyance.

In other words, even if a person who is transporting the goods is unregistered, he would be required to get the e-way bill generated either himself or through the transporter who is transporting the goods. An e-way bill can be generated by the unregistered himself as well on the GST Portal even if he is not registered.

E-way Bill in case of Sale by Unregistered Person to Registered Person

If the goods are supplied by an unregistered person to a registered person and the registered person is known at the time of commencement of movement of goods, it would be deemed that the movement of goods is caused by the registered person.

In such a case, the registered person or the transporter shall complete the formalities of the e-way bill.

Responsibilities Of The Transporter

1. In case the consignor (seller) or the consignee (buyer) has not generated the e-way bill and the value of the consignment is more than Rs. 50,000, the transporter shall generate Form GST EWB 01 on the basis of invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan.

2. Any transporter transferring goods from one conveyance to another in the course of transit shall before such transfer and further movement of goods, update the details of the conveyance in the e-way bill on gst.gov.in.

3. In case where multiple consignments are intended to be transported in one conveyance, the transporter shall indicate the serial number of each individually generated e-way bill in respect of each such consignment electronically on the common platform and a consolidated e-way bill in Form GST EWB 02 maybe generated by him on the GST Website prior to the movement of goods.

E-Way Bill in case of Transport of Goods by Rail or Air or Vessel

In situations where the goods are transported by railways or by air or by vessel, the e-way bill shall be generated by the registered person (either the supplier or the recipient). This e-way bill shall be generated either before or after the commencement of movement of goods and the information should be furnished in Part B of Form GST EWB 01.

In case of transport of goods by Railways, the railways shall not deliver the goods unless the eway bill required under these rules is produced at the time of delivery.

E-Way Bill in case Goods transported through E-Commerce operator or Courier Agency

If the Goods to be transported are supplied through an e-commerce operator or a courier agency, on an authorisation received from the consignor, the information in Part A of Form GST EWB 01 may be furnished by such e-commerce operator or a courier agency.

Intimation Of Generation Of E-Way Bill

1. Upon generation of the e-way bill, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) shall be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the GST Website who may utilise the same for furnishing the details in Form GSTR 1.

2. The recipient shall communicate his acceptance or rejection of the consignment covered by the e-way bill within 72 hours.

3. In case the recipient does not communicate his acceptance or rejection within 72 hours of the details being made available on the GST Website, it shall be deemed that he has accepted the said details.

Inspection And Verification Of Goods

1. A summary report of every inspection of goods in transit shall be recorded online by the proper officer in Part A of Form GST EWB 03 within 24 hours of inspection and final report in Part B of Form GST EWB 03 shall be recorded within 3 days of inspection.

2. In case the physical verification of goods being transported on any conveyance has been done during transit at one place within the state, no further physical verification of the conveyance shall be carried out again unless specific information relating to evasion of tax is made available subsequently.

Other Relevant Points Regarding E-Way Bill

1. In case the value of the consignment is less than Rs. 50,000 – it is not mandatory to create the e-way bill. The e-way bill may or may not be generated in this case. In case they want to generate an e-way bill, he may generate the same at his option by following the procedure mentioned above.

2. In case an e-way bill has been generated, but the goods are either not transported or are not transported as per the details furnished in the e-way bill, the e-way bill shall be cancelled. The cancellation can be done either electronically on the GST Website directly or through a GST Facilitation Centre within 24 hours of the generation the e-way bill.

3. An e-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit.

4. In situations where the goods are sent by a principal located in 1 State or Union Territory to a Job Worker located in any other state or union territory, the eway bill shall be generated either by the principal or the job worker, if registered, irrespective of the value of the assignment.

5. If the handicraft goods are transported from 1 State or Union Territory to another State or Union Territory by a person who has been exempted from the requirement of obtaining GST Registration under clauses (i) and (ii) of Section 24, the e-way bill shall be generated by the said person irrespective of the value of the consignment.

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Note: Information placed here in above is only for general perception. This may not reflect the latest status on law and may have changed in recent time. Please seek our professional opinion before applying the provision. Thanks.