E-way bill

Update: At the 26th GST Council meeting, it has been decided to implement he inter-state e-way bill from 1st April, 2018. For intra-state movement, the e-way bill will be rolled out in a phased manner starting from 15th April, 2018, such that all states are covered by 1st June, 2018.

Introduction

In its 22nd meeting, the GST Council decided and recommended that the e-way bill under GST shall be introduced in a staggered manner from 1st January, 2018, and will be rolled out nationwide from 1st April, 2018. However, at the recently concluded 24th GST Council meeting held on 16th December, 2017, it was announced that the e-way bill will be launched from the 1st of February, 2018 – a full two months ahead of the earlier plan.

Why has the e-way bill been preponed?

The e-way bill GST provisions had primarily targeted a single national level e-way bill, which could be used by suppliers and transporters all across the country. Till such time as this national e-way bill was ready, the States were authorized to continue their own separate e-way bill systems. However the GST However the GST Council received several representations from the trade and transporter communities, stating that this was causing an unnecessary bottleneck to the inter-State movement of goods, prompting the need for an earlier implementation of the e-way bill. As a result the GST Council, reviewed the readiness of the hardware and software required for the nationwide rollout of e-way bill, and has announced the renewed date, post discussions with all the States.

What is GST E-Way Bill?

Under GST, the process and procedural aspects for the movement of goods are prescribed in the e-way bill rules. E-way bill stands for Electronic Way Bill. It is usually a unique bill number generated for the specific consignment involving the movement of goods. However, it is to be noted that the e-way bill implementation was deferred when GST came into being on the 1st of July, in order to give more time to the government, businesses and transporters to prepare for its full and final implementation. States like Gujarat continued to have Form 402 in GST, and clear rules were laid down as to how to help businesses fill a GST Form 402 online till the implementation of the GST e-way bill is complete

When is the E-Way Bill applicable?

It is applicable for any consignment value exceeding INR 50,000. Even in case of inward supply of goods from unregistered person, E-Way Bill is applicable.

When should the E-Way Bill be generated?

The E-Way Bill needs to be generated before the commencement of movement of goods.

What is the validity of E-Way Bill?

• Less than 100 KM: 1 Day
• Every 100 Km or part thereof thereafter – 1 additional day
• The validity period will be counted from the time of generation of the E-Way Bill. The validity period of the E-Way Bill may be extended by the commissioner for certain categories of goods, as specified in the notification issued in this regard.
  Who should generate the E-Way Bill?
  • When goods are transported by a registered person, either acting as a consignee or consignor in his own vehicle, hired vehicle, railways, by air or by vessel, the supplier or recipient of the goods should generate the E-Way Bill.
  • When the goods are handed over to a transporter, the E-Way Bill should be generated by the transporter. In this case, the registered person should 
  • this case, the registered person should declare the details of the goods in a common portal.
  • In case of inward supplies from an unregistered person, either the recipient of supply or the transporter should generate the E-Way Bill.
  • What happens if goods are transferred from one vehicle to another vehicle in the course of transit?
    Before transferring the goods to another vehicle and making any further movement of such goods, the transporter needs to update the details of conveyance in the E-Way Bill on the common portal in Form GST EWB 01.