GST: E-Way Bill System For Inter-State Movement Of Goods Now Made Mandatory

Keeping with the tax reforms, the centre has now made e-way bill (EWS) mandatory for the transporters carrying goods worth of over $770 (INR 50K) from one state to the other. The e-way bill that was initially planned to roll out on February 1, 2018, has now been introduced on April 1, citing technical glitches.

As per the official statement, a total of 10,96,905 taxpayers have registered on e-Way Bill Portal till date. Further 19,796 transporters, who are not registered under GST, have enrolled themselves on the e-Way Bill Portal.

To reduce the burden of ecommerce players, a single e-way bill can be generated for multiple deliveries on the same trip.

The GST Council claimed that the EWS system has been running smoothly since yesterday, adding, “In fact, 1,71,503 e-waybills have already been successfully generated on the portal from 00:00 hours till 17:00 hrs of April 1, 2018,” it stated.

Commenting on the e-way bill introduction, Sanjeev Arora, CEO, WeP Digital Services stated, “The rolling out of E-Way bill will surely bring about efficiency and transparency in the movement of goods across states. The initial response from taxpayers has been encouraging. Industries in the organized sector such as FMCG, Pharma, Manufacturing, Infrastructure etc get access to WeP platform with multiple features like ERP integration, bulk EWB generation and centralised management for multi organisations and multi-locations for a fast, reliable and easy to use EWB generation facility.”

The E-way Bill can be generated through various modes like Web (Online), Android App, SMS, using Bulk Upload Tool and API based site to site integration etc. The bill has been divided into two parts: A and B. While Part A can be generated by entering details such as GSTIN of recipient, place of delivery, invoice or challan number, invoice or challan date, value of goods, HSN Code, reason for transportation and transport document number, Part B requires the vehicle number. Once that is completed, a consolidated e-way bill can be generated by transporters for the vehicles carrying multiple consignments.

Transporters can create multiple sub-users and allocate roles to them. This way, large transporters can declare their various offices as sub-users. There is a provision for cancellation of within e-way bill within 24 hours by the person who has generated the e-way bill. The recipient can also reject the e-way bill within the validity period or 72 hours from the generation of the e-way bill by the consignor, whichever is earlier.

The GST Council stated that the e-way bill for intrastate transportation of goods has not been implemented but it will be made available in a phased manner, as and when instructed by the Council. However, the Karnataka government already implemented e-way bill for intrastate movement of goods in September, last year.

The GST Council had recently also made a few amendments, tweaking the e-way bill requirements simpler on several counts and adding some safety features to curb tax evasion.

In case of intra-state movement of goods by the road where the value of each consignment is less than $768 (INR 50,000) but the aggregate consignment value in a vehicle is more than $768, the new rules say that no e-way bill is required. This intrastate exemption is expected to give relief to courier and ecommerce firms.

While the e-way bill is being opposed by a few sections of the transporters citing unreadiness, the GST council has also made a separate registration window available for the enrolment of transporters that are not registered under GST. While the transportation of goods across the state has increased corruption among police officials and politicians lately, will the EWS actually be able to bridge the current loopholes present in the system? At present, it seems that only time will tell.