E-Way Bill under Goods and Services Tax law (GST)

On 14th of April, the CBEC released Electronic Way (e-way) Bill Rules in public domain.

Some significant provisions with reference to E-Way bill are as follows:

1. Furnishing of information before commencement of movement of goods:

Information relating to the goods needs to be furnished in Part A of FORM GST INS-01 by registered person who causes movement of goods before such movement, where:

• Consignment value exceeds Rs. 50,000 (even if such movement is not a supply)
• In cases where a registered person purchases goods from an unregistered person

In case a registered person uploads a tax invoice issued by him in FORM GST INV-1, the aforesaid information in Part A of Form GST INS-01 will be auto populated.

Information in Part A of Form GST INS-01 shall be used for preparing GSTR-1.

2. Generation of e-way bill:

• The registered person as a consignor or the recipient of supply as a consignee shall furnish the information in Part B of FORM GST INS-1 and shall generate the e-way bill in FORM GST INS-1
• Where the e-Way bill is not generated in the aforesaid manner either by the registered person or the recipient and the goods are handed over to a transporter, the registered person shall furnish the information relating to the transporter in Part B of FORM GST INS-1 and transporter shall generate the e-way bill
• If, required information is not submitted by the consignor as required, the transporter shall generate the e-way bill on the basis of invoice/ bill of supply or the deliver challan.

Upon such generation of e-way bill, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) will be made available to supplier, recipient and to the transporter.

3. Option to generate and carry the e-Way bill

• The registered person or transporter may at his option, generate and carry even if the value of consignment is less than Rs. 50,000
• When the movement of goods is caused by unregistered person to an unregistered person, he or the transporter may at their own option, generate the e-way bill
  

4. Validity of E-Way bill:

The e-way bill will remain valid for the period as mentioned in following table from the time of generation:

Also, e-way bill generated of any other state shall be valid in the state.

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

• The invoice/ bill of supply/ delivery challan, as the case may be; and
• A copy of e-way bill or the EBN, either physically or mapped to a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID)

A registered person may obtain Invoice reference number by GSTN by uploading the tax invoice and may produce the same in lieu of tax invoice.

6. Verification of documents and conveyances:

The officer if authorized may intercept any conveyance for physical verification or to verify the e-way bill or the EBN for all inter-state an intra-state movement of goods.

In case of inspection of goods in transit, a summary Report within 24 hours of inspection, and the final Report within 3 days of inspection, shall be recorded online in Part B of FORM GST INS-03.

Where the physical verification of goods being transported has been done during transit, no further physical verification shall be carried out unless there is specific information relating to evasion of tax.

7. Other relevant provisions:

• In case of transfer of goods from one conveyance to another conveyance during transit, before further movement of goods, transporter shall generate a new e-way bill
• In case of transportation of multiple consignments in one conveyance a consolidated e-way bill in FORM GST INS-2 will need to be generated prior to the movement of goods
• The details of e-way bill will be communicated to the registered recipient for his acceptance or rejection of the consignment (deemed acceptance after 72 hours)
• Where a vehicle has been intercepted and detained for a period exceeding 30 minutes, the transporter may upload the said information in FORM GST INS-04
• In case e-way bill has been generated but goods are either not being transported or not being transported as per the details furnished, the e-way bill may be cancelled within 24 hours, if it has been verified in transit.

E-way bill will also be allowed to be generated or cancelled through SMS.