E- way bill explained !

The government is all set to put in place the E-way bills. As decided in 24^th meeting of GST council,

E-way bill system will be in place on trial basis from January 16, 2018 and will be made mandatory from February 01, 2018 for Inter-state movement of goods. The states have an option to choose their timings for the implementation of E-way bill system for intra state movement of goods. However there will be uniform E way bill system from June 01, 2018. Let’s have a look how the E -way bill system is going to work.

Information to be furnished and by whom:

Every registered person who causes movement of goods, whose value exceeds 50,000

1. In relation to supply

2. For reason other than supply

3. Purchases from Unregistered dealer

Has to furnish information in PART A of GST EWB-01 before commencement of such movement.

** E- way bill has to be generated Regardless of the value limit of Rs. 50,000.

1. When goods are sent for Inter -state Job work

2. Person supplying Handicraft goods from one state to other, who has been exempted to take registration.

Information to be filled in Part A of GST EWB-01

1	GSTIN of Recipient	Person receiving the Goods
2	Place of Delivery	Pin code of the Place of Delivery
3	Invoice or Challan Number	Invoice by supplier
4	Invoice or Challan Date	Invoice by supplier
5	Value of Goods	Total value as per the invoice
6	HSN Code	Annual turnover: Less than 5 CR: Minimum 2 Digits More than 5 CR: Minimum 4 Digits
7	Reason for Transportation	Reason has to be out of the following 1 Supply 2 Export or Import 3 Job Work 4 SKD or CKD 5 Recipient not known 6 Line Sales 7 Sales Return 8 Exhibition or fairs 9 For own use 0 Others
8	Transport Document Number	Goods Receipt Number or Railway Receipt Number or Airway Bill Number or Bill of Lading Number.

Where the goods are transported by the registered person as a consignor or the recipient of supply as the consignee, whether in his own conveyance or a hired one or by railways or by air or by vessel, The supplier or the recipient has an option to generate the e-way bill in Part B of GST EWB-01

PART-B Requirement

Vehicle Number in which the Goods are being shipped

E -way bill not generated:

Where the e-way bill is not generated and the goods are handed over to a transporter for transportation by road, the registered person has to furnish the information relating to the transporter in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01 and the e-way bill has to be generated by the transporter on the said portal on the basis of the information furnished by the registered person in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01:  

Certain important Provisos under E- way bill rules:

• Even if the value is less than 50,000 the registered person or the transporter has an option to carry E-way bill with them.
• When the movement is caused by the unregistered dealer such person or the transporter has the option to generate the E- way bill in GST EWB-01
• where the goods are transported intra state for a distance of less than ten km from consignor to transporter for further transportation, the supplier or the transporter has option not to furnish the details of conveyance inPart B of FORM GST EWB-01.
• Where the goods are transported by railways or by air or by vessel, the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 has to be filled by the consignor or the recipient of the supply
• Where the goods are transported intra state for a distance of less than ten km from transporter to consignee, the transporter has option not to furnish the details of conveyance.
• Upon generation of the e-way bill on the common portal, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) shall be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the common portal.

Transporters:

1. Any transporter transferring goods from one conveyance to another in the course of transit has to 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. where 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 inFORM GST EWB-02 maybe generated by him on the said common portal prior to the movement of goods.

3. Where the consignor or the consignee has not generated E- way billand the value of goods exceeds fifty thousand rupees, the transporter shall (has to) 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 EWB-02 on the common portal prior to the movement of goods.

E-way Bill:

1. Once the E-way bill is 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 may be cancelled 2. E-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit in accordance with the provisions of rule 138B.

3. Validity of E-way Bill:

Sr. No	Distance	Validity Period
1	Upto 100 km	One day
2	For every 100 km or part thereof thereafter	One additional day

Example

Distance	Validity
100 Km	One day
105 Km	Two day
200 Km	Two day
201 Km	Three day

The Government has considered this time the practical problems of real life and has come up with the proviso to solve these problems.

** Under circumstances of an exceptional nature, the goods cannot be transported within the validity period of the e-way bill, the Transporter has an option to generate another e-way bill after updating the details in Part B of FORM GSTEWB-01.

Recipient of supply:

1. Once the E- way bill has been generated, the recipient has to Accept or Reject the consignment covered by E-way bill

2. If the consignee does not accept or reject the E-way bill within 72 hours it shall be deemed as accepted from him.

Exclusions:

No need to generate E-way bill

1. If the goods are being transported from Non-Motorized conveyance.

2. where the goods are being transported from the port, airport, aircargo complex and land customs station to an inland container depot or a container freight station for clearance by Customs

3. In respect of movement of goods within such areas as are notified.

4. In case of certain goods such as Broadly falling under Live animals, Meats, fats, Fish and fish products, Milk , curd, dairy products, Human hairs, bones, vegetables, Nuts, fruits, seeds, coffee beans , species, cereals and pulses not having registered brand name, Edibles and water, condoms and contraceptives, postal items, cheques, printed books, newspapers, Pooja samagri Etc.

Documents and devices to be carried by a person-in-charge of a conveyance:

Transporter shall carry—

1) The invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan, as the case may be; and

2) A copy of the e-way bill or the e-way bill number, either physically or mapped to a Radio Frequency Identification Device embedded on to the conveyance.

(2) A registered person can obtain an Invoice Reference Number from the common portal by uploading, on the said portal, a tax invoice issued by him in FORM GST INV-1 and produce the same for verification by the proper officer in lieu of the tax invoice and such number shall be valid for a period of thirty days from the date of uploading.

(3) Where the registered person uploads the invoice the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 shall be auto-populated by the common portal

Verification;

Looking at the rules and the intent of the government it seems that the government has tried to provide the ease of doing business and to avoid the unnecessary harassment of the tax payers as the mechanism of verification will be online. Once the physical verification is done in one or the other state no more verification can be done until and unless there is some specific information and the taxpayer has the option to file detention also. Overall it is a welcoming move.

1. Proper officer has power to intercept any conveyance to verify the e-way bill or the e-way bill number in physical form for all inter-State and intra-State movement of goods.

2. Where E-way bill has been mapped with the RFID device checking has to be done through Radio Frequency Identification Device readers installed at places where the verification of movement of goods.

3. Proper officer has to be the one authorized by Commissioner or an officer empowered by him in this behalf

4. Verification Report:

5. Proper officer who does such verification has to prepare a verification report in in Part A of FORM GSTEWB-03 within 24 hours of such inspection and Final report has to be submitted within 3 days in Part B of FORM GST EWB-03

5. Verification in one state or in any other state can be done only once until and unless there is specific information relating to evasion of tax is made available subsequently.

Detention:

Where the vehicle is detained for more than 30 minutes the transporter has an option to file such information in FORM GST EWB-04 on common portal.

The intent is to allow the free flow of goods within state as well across the states in a systematic and organized manner, to avoid any kind of unnecessary inconvenience.