E-way Bill under GST- An Analysis

CA Vaibhav Jain
Associate Director, INMACS Management Services Ltd

Introduction

The objective of creating E-way bill mechanism is to create an audit trail on the common portal for movement of goods for Inter-state or Intra-state transaction above than certain monetary value. The e-way bill can be generated by supplier, recipient of goods or by transporter.

E-way bill is required only in the case of goods. The e-way bill is required not only when the supply is treated as a supply of goods but even when the supply is treated as a supply of services but involves “movement of goods”. E-way bill is required in all cases where goods – inventory, capital goods or inputs for job work or any other business asset – are involved in movement. There is no difference whether the movement is pursuant to a supply arrangement or relocation of goods within the State itself.

The Central Government vide Notification no. 74/2017 dated 29th December, 2017 has notified 1st day of February, 2018, as the date from which the provisions of E-way bill system as notified in Notification No. 27/2017 – Central Tax dated 30th August, 2017 shall come into force. Further, following decisions were taken by the GST council in its 24th meeting held on 16th December, 2017 for implementation of nationwide e-way Bill system:

1) Voluntary Basis:- The nationwide e-way Bill system rolled out on a trial basis from 16th January, 2018. Trade and transporters can start using this system on a voluntary basis from 16th January, 2018.

2) Mandatory Basis:- The Rules for implementation of nationwide e-way Bill system for Inter-State movement of goods on a compulsory basis will be notified with effect from 1st February, 2018. This will bring uniformity across the States for seamless inter-State movement of goods.

3) While the System for both inter-State and intra-State e-way Bill generation ready from 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. There are certain States which are already having system of e-way Bill for intra-State as well.

Requirement of E-way Bill prior to commencement of movement of goods

Every registered person who causes movement of goods of consignment value exceeding fifty thousand rupees*-

a) in relation to a supply; or

b) for reasons other than supply; or

c) due to inward supply from an unregistered person,

Shall, before commencement of such movement, furnish information relating to the said goods as specified in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01.

* Fifty thousand rupees means invoice value including Central, State, Integrated Tax.

Mandatory Requirement of E-way Bill irrespective of Value of the consignment

1) Where goods are sent by a principal located in one State to a job worker located in any other

2) Where handicraft goods are transported from one State to another by a person who has been exempted from the requirement of obtaining registration for inter-state taxable supply and casual taxable person.

Obligations for Transporter for generation of E-way Bill in following circumstances

1) 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 conveyance in the e-way bill on the common portal in FORM GST EWB-01.

2) In case of multiple consignments are intended to be transported in one conveyance, the transporter may indicate the serial number of e-way bills generated in respect of each such consignment electronically on the common portal and a consolidated e-way bill in FORM GST EWB-02 may be generated by him on the said common portal prior to the movement of goods.

3) In case, if consignor or the consignee has not generated FORM GST EWB-01 and the value of goods carried in the conveyance 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, as the case may be, and may also generate a consolidated e-way bill in FORM GST EWB02 on the common portal prior to the movement of goods.

E-way bill is required to be generated when the supply involves the following:

Validity of E-way Bill

Note 1:- Where, under an exceptional circumstances, the goods cannot be transported within the validity period of the e-way bill, the transporter may generate another e-way bill after updating the details in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01.

Note 2:- Validity of E-way bill 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.

Documents for Movement

Every movement shall be accompanied by both of the following documents, namely:

• Principal document – tax invoice or bill of supply or other challan; and
• E-way bill or EBN reference, either physically or mapped to a Radio Frequent Identification Device embedded on to the conveyance.

All information required in our tax invoice may be uploaded on the Common Portal in Form GST INV-01 and an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) may be generated. Commissioner may notify the class of transporter to obtain unique Radio Frequency Identification Device and to get the device embedded on the conveyance.

Verification during Movement

Interception of movement of goods, by the Commissioner or proper officer authorised by the Commissioner, is allowed and an online verification report is to be filed within 24 hours. Proof of stoppage for verification is required in Part A of Form GST EWB-03 and final report in Part B of Form GST EWB-03 within three days of inspection.

Where physical verification of conveyance has been done during transit at one place within the State or in any other State, no further physical verification of the conveyance shall be carried in the State out again unless any information relating to tax evasion is made available.

In order to monitor stoppage during movement or detained vehicle, transporter may upload instances of stoppage for a duration exceeding 30 minutes by uploading information on the Common Portal in Form GST EWB-04.

Cancellation of E-way Bill

• Where an e-way bill has been generated however, 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.
• It is to be noted that an e-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit in accordance with the provisions of rule 138B.

Information required in E-way Bill

The information required for generation of e-way bill is very simple and limited. Following information is required for generation of E-way Bill:-

–

Notes

1. HSN Code column No 6 required for turnover upto Rs. 5 crore:- Two Digit HSN Code Code column No 6 required for turnover above Rs. 5 crore:- Four Digit HSN Code

2. Transport Document number indicates Goods Receipt Number or Railway Receipt Number or Airway Bill Number or Bill of Lading Number.

3. Place of Delivery shall indicate the PIN Code of place of delivery.

4. Reason for Transportation shall be chosen from one of the following i.e. Supply, Export or Import, Job Work, SKD or CKD, Recipient not known, Line Sales, Sales Return, Exhibition or fairs, For own use, Others.

Goods Excluded From E-way Bill Requirement

Rule 138 lists goods and circumstances of movement, in respect of which requirement to generate E-way bill is excluded, namely:

• Goods listed in Annexure comprising in respect of which any movement of goods within the State or outside the State can be freely undertaken without the requirement of generating e-way bill.
• Goods being transported through non-motorized conveyance also do not require e-way bill.
• Goods being transported from port, airport, air cargo complex and land custom station to an inland container depot or a container freight station for customs clearance.
• In respect of movement of goods within such areas as are notified under Rule 138(14) (d) of the Goods and Services Tax Rules of the concerned State.
• Where the goods being transported are alcoholic liquor for human consumption, petroleum crude, high speed diesel, motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), natural gas or aviation turbine
• Where the goods being transported are treated as no supply under Schedule III of the

ANNEXURE

[(See rule 138 (14)]

 Note: 13 States have agreed to implement e-Way Bills for Intra-State movement of Goods with effect from 1st February 2018. These are:

• Andhra Pradesh,
• Arunachal Pradesh,
• Bihar,
• Haryana,
• Jharkhand,
• Karnataka,
• Kerala,
• Puducherry(UT),
• Sikkim,
• Tamil Nadu,
• Telangana,
• Uttar Pradesh and
• Uttarakhand.

Compiled by GSTstreet for #GSTManthan