What is E-Way bill
A waybill is a consignment of goods and the details include name of consignor, consignee, the point of origin of the consignment, its destination, and route. Electronic Way Bill (E-Way Bill) is basically a compliance mechanism wherein by way of a digital interface the person causing the movement of goods uploads the relevant information prior to the commencement of movement of good receipt or a document issued by a carrier giving details and instructions relating to the shipment of a cos and generates e-way bill on the GST portal.
Applicability of E-way bill under GST
E-way bill is an electronic document generated on the E-Way billportal evidencing movement of goods. It has two components:-Part A- Including of details of GSTIN of recipient, - place of delivery (PIN Code),
- invoice or challan number and date,
- value of goods, HSN code,
- transport document number (Goods Receipt Number or Railway
- Receipt Number or Airway Bill Number or Bill of Lading Number) and
- reasons for transportation.
Part B- Including the details of transporter.
As per Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017,every registered person who causes movement of goods (which may not necessarily be on account of supply) of consignment value more than Rs. 50000/- is required to furnish above mentioned information in part A of e-way bill. The part B containing transport details helps in generation of e-way bill.
How it is generated
Firstly, An registered taxpayers or transports required to registered yourself in E Way bill portal by putting GSTIN if he is a registered taxpayers or by his PAN details in case of transports.
An e-way bill contains two parts- Part A to be furnished by the person who is causing movement of goods of consignment value exceeding Rs.50,000/- and part B (transport details) to be furnished by the person who is transporting the goods.
Where the goods are transported by a registered person whether as consignor or recipient, the said person shall have to generate the e-way bill by furnishing information in part B on the GST common portal.
Where the e-way bill is not generated by registered person and the goods are handed over to the transporter for transportation by road, the registered person shall furnish the information relating to the transporter in Part B of FORM GST EWB 01 on the E- Way bill common portal and the e-way bill shall 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.
The common portal for generation of e-way bill is
https://ewaybillgst.gov.in
TRANSIN or Transporter id is 15 digit unique number generated by EWB system for unregistered transporter, once he enrolls on the system which is similar to GSTIN format and is based on state code, PAN and Check sum digit. This TRANSIN or Transporter id can be shared by transporter with his clients, who may enter this number while generating e-waybills for assigning goods to him for transportation.
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.
In the above case, the registered person will not have to upload the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 for generation of e-way bill and the same shall be autopopulated the common portal on the basis of the information furnished in FORM GST INV-1. Upon generation of the e-way bill on the common portal, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) generated by the common portal, shall be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the common portal.
Purposes of E-Way Bill
E-way bill is a mechanism to ensure that goods being transported comply with the GST Law and is an effective tool to track movement of goods and check tax evasion.
Validity of E-Way Bill
The validity of e-way bill depends on the distance to be travelled by the goods. For a distance of less than 100 Km the e-way bill will be valid for a day from the relevant date.
For every 100 Km thereafter, the validity will be additional one day from the relevant date. The “relevant date” shall mean the date on which the e-way bill has been generated and the period of validity 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. In general, the validity of the e-way bill cannot be extended.
However, Commissioner may extend the validity period only by way of issue of notification for certain categories of goods which shall be specified later. Further, if under circumstances of an exceptional nature, 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.
Cancellation of E-Way Bill
Where an e-way bill has been generated under this rule, but 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 Center notified by the Commissioner, within 24 hours of generation of the e-way bill. However, an e-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit in accordance with the provisions of rule 138B of the CGST Rules, 2017.
It is also be noted that 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.
E-Way to be issued whether for goods supply or otherwise
E-way bill is to be issued irrespective of whether the movement of goods is caused by reasons of supply or otherwise.
In respect of transportation for reasons other than supply, movement could be in view of:-
-export/import,
-job-work, SKD or CKD,
-recipient not known,
-line sales,
-sales returns,
-exhibition or fairs,
-for own use,
-sale on approval basis etc.
Exception to E-Way Bill requirement
No e-way bill is required to be generated in the following cases:-
a) Transport of goods as specified in Annexure to Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017b) goods being transported by a non-motorised conveyance;c) goods 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;d) in respect of movement of goods within such areas as are notified under rule 138(14) (d) of the SGST Rules, 2017 of the concerned State; ande) Consignment value less than Rs. 50,000/-
Note: Where a vehicle has been intercepted and detained for a period exceeding thirty minutes, the transporter may upload the said information in FORM GST EWB-04 on the common portal.
Documents or devices to be carried by a person-in-charge of a conveyance
The person in charge of a conveyance shall carry—
(a) the invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan, as the case may be; and
(b) 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 in such manner as may be notified by the Commissioner. 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.
Verification of documents and conveyance
(1) The Commissioner or an officer empowered by him in this behalf may authorise the proper officer 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) The Commissioner shall get Radio Frequency Identification Device-readers installed at places where the verification of movement of goods is required to be carried out and verification of movement of vehicles shall be done through such device readers where the eway bill has been mapped with the said device.
(3) The physical verification of conveyances shall be carried out by the proper officer as authorised by the Commissioner or an officer empowered by him in this behalf:
Provided that on receipt of specific information on evasion of tax, physical verification of a specific conveyance can also be carried out by any officer after obtaining necessary approval of the Commissioner or an officer authorised by him in this behalf.
Extension of validity of the E Way Bill
There is an option under e-way bill to extend the validity period. This option is available for extension of e-way bill before 4 hours and after 4 hours of expiry of the validity. Here, transporter will enter the e-way bill number and enter the reason for the requesting the extension, from place (current place), approximate distance to travel and Part-B details. It may be noted that he cannot change the details of Part-A. He will get the extended validity based on the remaining distance to travel.
If the vehicle breaks down in an EWB
If the vehicle breaks down, when the goods are being carried with an EWB, then transporter can get the vehicle repaired and continue the journey in the same EWB. If he has to change the vehicle, then he has to enter the new vehicle details in that EWB, on the eway bill portal, using ‘Update vehicle number’ option in Part B and continue the journey in new vehicle, within the original validity period of e-way bill.
Consolidated of E- Way bill
Consolidated e-way bill is a document containing the multiple e-way bills for multiple consignments being carried in one conveyance (goods vehicle). That is, the transporter, carrying multiple consignments of various consignors and consignees in one vehicle can generate and carry one consolidated e-way bill instead of carrying multiple e-way bills for those consignments.
Generation of consolidated e way bill
