E-WAY BILL

E-Way bill is an electronic way bill which is required to be carried by person in charge of the conveyance; for movements of goods from one place to another place within the state or outside the states.

The e-way bill mechanism has been used in the GST to prevent interstate or intrastate movement of goods without payment of GST.

IMPLEMENTATION OF E-WAY BILL

The Government has notified E-Way Bill Rules vide notification no. 27/2017 dated 30.08.2017. The date of implementation of the e-way bill mechanism would be notified separately, but various sources said it is likely to come into force by 1^st October, 2017.

MANDATORY COMPLIANCE OF E-WAY BILL

-     Mandatory to be comply by every registered person who cause movements of goods and where the consignment value of goods in movements exceeds 50,000/-

(In author opinion, value of goods shall be taken exclusive of Central Tax, State Tax, Integrated Tax and Compensation Cess)

-     If movements of goods are

            -    In relation to a supply: or

            -    For reasons other than supply: or

            -    Due to inward supply from an unregistered person

POINTS TO BE REMEMBER

-     A supply may be either of the following to attract e-way bill provision:

-     A supply made for a consideration (payment) in the course of business

-     A supply made for a consideration (payment) which may not be in the course of business

-     A supply without consideration (without payment)

-     The expression "for reasons other than supply" will include job work, removal for testing purpose, send on approval basis, etc.

OPTIONAL COMPLIANCE OF E-WAY BILL

-    A registered person or the transporter may generate at his option and carry e way bill even if the value of the consignment is less than 50000/-

-    Where the movement is caused by an unregistered person either in his own conveyance or a hired one or through a transporter, he or the transporter may, at their option, generate the e-way bill in FORM GST EWB-01. However, where a supply is made by an unregistered person to a registered person, then the movement is deemed to have caused by a registered recipient and liability to generate e-way bill is lies on to recipient i.e the receiver will have to ensure all the compliances are met as if they were the supplier. 

-    Where the goods are transported for a distance of less than 10 km within the State or Union territory from the place of business of the consignor to the place of business of the transporter for further transportation, the supplier or the transporter may not furnish the details of conveyance in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01. However Part A has to be filled.

(In author’s opinion, the distance of 10 km will be seen from the place of business of the consignor to the place of business of the transporter for further transportation, not to the place of business of the recipient/consignee. Moreover, there are some ambiguity in the drafting language of the above paragraph, clarification would be come from the department that whether e-way is bill is require to be generate or not where the goods are transported within 10 km from the place of business of consignor to the place of business of recipient/consignee)

NO REQUIRMENT OF E-WAY BILL

-     E-way bill is not required if goods are transported by non-motorized conveyances such as cycle, rickshaw etc. In general, non-motorized conveyance does not consume energy or cause pollution and provide social equity

-     E-way bill is not required where 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;

-     E-way bill is not required in respect of movements of goods within such area as are notified by the concerned state.

-     E-way bill is also not required in respect of goods furnished in Annexure-1 (enclosed with the document)

MECHANISIM OF E-WAY BILL

BEFORE COMMENCEMENT OF MOVEMENT OF GOODS

-     Every registered person who cause movements of goods shall before commencement of such movement shall furnish below information electronically in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01.

* Reason for Transportation

1.         Supply                         2.         Export or Import    &nsp;   

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                 10.         Others

GENERATION OF E-WAY BILL

-     Where goods are transported by the registered person as a consignor of goods or the recipient of supply as consignee (Registered Person) whether in his own conveyance or a hired one or by railways, by air or by vessels, the said person or recipient will electronically generate an e-way bill after furnishing information relating to the conveyance in Part B OF FORM GST EWB-01.

-     Where a supply is made by an unregistered person to a registered person, then the movement is deemed to have caused by a registered recipient and liability to generate e-way bill is lies on to recipient i.e the receiver will have to ensure all the compliances are met as if they were the supplier (deemed provision).

-     Where e-way bill is neither generated by the consignor nor consignee and the goods are handed over to a transporter for transportation by road, then, transporter shall generate FORM GST EWB-01on the basis of invoice or bill of supply or delivery Challan and may also generated consolidate e-way bill in FORM GST EWB-01 prior to movements of goods. However, transporter is not responsible to generate an e-way bill in case of transport by railway, by air or by vessel.

(The onus is upon the transporter to generate the e-way bill where it is not generated by consignor or consignee of the goods intended to be moved from one place to other)

E-WAY BILL NUMBER (EBN)

-    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.

POINTS TO BE REMEMBER

-    The e-way bill generated under this rule or under rule 138 of the Goods and Services Tax Rules of any State shall be valid in every State and Union territory.

-    UTILIZATION OF E-WAY BILL IN FORM GSTR-1:- Registered supplier may utilize the information furnished in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 for furnishing details in FORM GSTR-1.

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

-           The facility of generation and cancellation of e-way bill may also be made available through SMS.

VALIDITY OF E-WAY BILL OR CONSOLIDATED E-WAY BILL

Points to be remember

-     In an exceptional nature, where 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.

  -       One day shall be counted for 24 hours from the time of generation of e-way bill

-     The Commissioner may, by notification, extend the validity period of the e-way bill for certain categories of goods as may be specified therein.

TRANSFERRING OF GOODS FROM ONE CONVEYANCE TO ANOTHER

-     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.

-     Where the goods are transported for a distance of less than 10 Kms within the State or Union territory from the place of business of the transporter finally to the place of business of the consignee, the details of conveyance may not be updated in the e-way bill. (Read in conjunction with above paragraph)

POINTS TO BE REMEMBER

-     It should be cautiously exercised since if there are two ways to a destination and one route is shorter than 10 kms and other is more than 10 kms then in such situation, then it is advisable to mandatorily change the details of conveyance otherwise it may lead to unwanted litigation.

CONSOLIDATED E-WAY BILL (MULTIPLE CONSIGNEMENT)

-     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 in FORM GST EWB-02 maybe generated by him on the said common portal prior to the movement of goods. (Multiple consignments can emerge as one of the biggest area of dispute)

CANCELLATION OF E-WAY BILL

-     In following situation, the e-way bill may be cancelled:

-     Where goods are not transported or

-     Where goods are not transported as per the details furnished in the e-way bill.

-     An e-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit in accordance with the provisions of rule 138B.

-     The facility of generation and cancellation of e-way bill may also be made available through SMS.

ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION OF E-WAY BILL

-     The details of e-way bill generated shall be made available to the recipient, if registered, where the recipient does not communicate his acceptance or rejection within 72 hours of the details being made available to him on the common portal, it shall be deemed that he has accepted the said details.

DOCUMENTS & DEVICES

DOCUMENTS

-     The person in charge of a conveyance shall carry:-

            -      The invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan; and

-      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

INVOICE REFERENCE NUMBER

• A registered person may 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.

-     Where the registered person uploads the invoice under sub-rule (2), the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 shall be auto-populated by the common portal on the basis of the information furnished in FORM GST INV-1.

RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION DEVICE

-      The Commissioner may, by notification, require a class of transporters to obtain a unique Radio Frequency Identification Device and get the said device embedded on to the conveyance and map the e-way bill to the Radio Frequency Identification Device prior to the movement of goods.

RELAXATION IN E-WAY BILL

-     Where circumstances warrants, the Commissioner may, by notification, require the person-in-charge of the conveyance to carry the following documents instead of the e-way bill-

  -      Tax invoice or bill of supply or bill of entry; or   

-     A delivery challan, where the goods are transported for reasons other than by way of supply.

VERIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS & CONVEYANCE

-     The proper officer may 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

INSPECTION & VERIFICATION OF GOODS

SUMMARY REPORT

-    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.

FINAL REPORT

-     The final report in Part B of FORM GST EWB-03 shall be recorded within 3 days of such inspection.

NO DOUBLE PHYSICAL VERIFICATION

-     Where the physical verification of goods being transported on any conveyance has been done during transit at one place within the State or in any other State, no further physical verification of the said conveyance shall be carried out again in the State, unless a specific information relating to evasion of tax is made available subsequently

DETENTION OF VEHICLE

-           Where a vehicle has been intercepted and detained for a period exceeding 30 minutes, the transporter may upload the said information in FORM GST EWB-04 on the common portal. (It is a welcome step and in fact will bring transparency in system)

FORMS UNDER E-WAY BILL

FORM GST EWB-01

(E-Way Bill)

FORM GST EWB-02

(Consolidated E-Way Bill)

FORM GST EWB-03

(Verification Report)

FORM GST EWB-04

(Detention Report)

The information/detail provided in the document is mostly based on Notification No.27 /2017 – Central Tax dated 30.08.2017 and the document prepared date is 15.09.2017.