An E-way bill itself is a document required to be carried by an individual in charge of the conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding Rs. 50,000/-. The bill will be generated from the GST’s common portal GSTN, by registered persons or transporters who cause the movement of goods of consignment before the advent of such movement. When an E-way bill is generated, a unique E-way Bill Number (EBN) is allocated and is available to the supplier, recipient, and transporter. Every registered person who causes the movement of goods of consignment values more than Rs. 50,000/-. If the registered person is unable to generate the E-way bill, the transporter who transports the goods can generate the E-way bill on behalf of his/her client. If the movement is caused by an unregistered person, he may at his option generate the E-way bill. All the registered persons under GST shall also register on the portal of the E-way bill namely: http://ewaybill.nic.in using their GSTIN. Once the GSTIN has been entered, the system sends an OTP to the registered mobile number and after the authentication, the system enables the taxpayer to generate their username and password for the E-way bill system. Post that, the taxpayer may proceed to make entries to generate the E-way bill. The validity of the E-way bill or consolidated E-way bill depends upon the distance the goods have to be transported. The validity of the bill is one day up to 100 km and for every 100 km or so thereafter it is one additional day.
Can one extend the validity of the E-way bill?
Yes, one can extend the validity of the E-way bill, if the consignment is not reaching the destination within the validity period due to exceptional circumstances like natural calamity, law and order issues, trans-shipment delay, accident of conveyance, etc. The transporter needs to explain this reason in detail while extending the validity period.
How does one extend the validity period of E-way bills?
There is an option under the E-way bill to extend the validity period. This option is available for extension of the E-way bill before 4 hours and after 4 hours of expiry of the validity. Here, the transporter will enter the E-way bill number and enter the reason for requesting the extension, from a 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.
Who can extend the validity of the E-way bill?
The transporter, who is carrying the consignment as per the E-way bill system at the time of expiry of the validity period, can extend the validity period.
When does the validity of the E-way bill start?
The validity of the E-way bill starts when the first entry is made in Part- B i.e., vehicle entry is made the first time in case of road transportation or first transport document number entry in case of rail/air/ship transportation, whichever is the first entry. It may be noted that validity is not recalculated for subsequent entries in Part B.
What transactions need the E-way bill?
For transportation of goods about all types of transactions such as outward supply whether within the State or interstate. Inward supply whether from within the State or from interstate including from unregistered persons or for reasons other than supply.
What are the documents that need to be carried along with the goods being transported?
The person in charge of the conveyance shall carry the following: Tax invoice/bill of supply/delivery challan, bill of entry copy of the E-way bill, or the E-way bill number (EBN) that is generated from the common portal GSTN.
Can the E-way bill be modified or edited?
The E-way bill once generated, cannot be edited, or modified. Only Part B of the bill can be updated. However, if the E-way bill is generated with wrong information, it may be canceled and generated afresh. The cancellation is required to be done within twenty-four hours from the time of generation.
How does a taxpayer enter Part-A details and generate E-way bills, when he is transporting goods himself?
Sometimes, the taxpayer wants to move the goods himself. E-way bill Portal expects the user to enter a transporter ID or vehicle number. So, if he wants to move the goods himself, he can enter his GSTIN in the transporter Id field and generate PartA Slip. This indicates to the system that he is a transporter, and he can enter details in Part-B later when transportation details are available.
Is Part B a must for an E-way bill?
The E-Way bill is complete only when Part B is entered. Otherwise, the printout of EWB would be invalid for the movement of goods. Filling up Part B of the E-way bill is a must for movement of the goods, except for within the same state movement between consignor place to transporter place, the distance is less than 50 Kms.
How to generate E-way bills for multiple invoices belonging to the same consignor and consignee?
If multiple invoices are issued by the supplier to the recipient, that is, for the movement of goods of more than one invoice of the same consignor and consignee, multiple E-way Bills have to be generated, i.e., for each invoice, one EWB had to be generated, irrespective of the fact that the same or different consignors and consignees are involved. Multiple invoices cannot be clubbed to generate one EWB. However, after generating all these EWBs, one consolidated EWB can be prepared for transportation purposes if they are going in one vehicle.
Can the E-way bill be deleted or canceled?
The E-way bill once generated cannot be deleted. However, it can be canceled by the generator within 24 hours of generation. If it has been verified by any proper officer, then it cannot be canceled. Further, E-way bills can be canceled if either good are not transported or are not transported as per the details provided in the E-way bill.
Who can reject the E-way bill and why?
The person who causes the transport of goods shall generate the E-way bill specifying the details of another person as a recipient of goods. There is a provision in the common portal for the other party to see the E-way bill generated against his/her GSTIN. As the other party, one can communicate the acceptance or rejection of such consignment specified in the E-way bill.
If the acceptance or rejection is not communicated within 72 hours from the time of generation of the E-way Bill, it is deemed that he has accepted the details.
What is a consolidated E-way bill?
A Consolidated E-way bill is a document containing the multiple E-way bills for multiple consignments being carried in one vehicle. That is the transporter, carrying the multiple consignments of various consignors and consignees in one vehicle wherein he is required to carry one consolidated E-way bill instead of carrying multiple E-way bills for those consignments.
What is the validity of a consolidated E-way bill?
A Consolidated E-way Bill is like a trip sheet, and it contains details of different EWBs which are moving in one direction, and these EWBs will have different validity periods. Hence, Consolidated EWB does not have any independent validity period. However, individual consignment specified in the corresponding EWB in the Consolidated EWB should reach the destination as per the validity period of that individual EWB.
Advantages of the E-way bill system: –
The system intends on abolishing all the check posts across the country for quick and easy movement of goods across India without any hindrance.
Single E-way Bill for movement of goods throughout the country.
- To prevent tax evasion.
- Hassle-free movement of goods across India.
- Tracking the movement of goods with the E-way Bill number (EBN).
- Easier verification of the E-way Bill by tax officers.
The major benefits of the system are as follows: –
– The traders need not visit tax offices to collect and submit the waybill forms used to be done in the previous (VAT) regimes in some states.
– Average waiting time at the mobile squad reduces drastically – As the verification of the E-way Bill is done with the common portal, it will speed up the process of verification and allow the vehicle to pass faster.
– Self-policing by traders – a trader while uploading gives the identification of the buying trader who will also account for the transaction automatically.
– Environment friendly – The need for multiple paper copies of the waybill is eliminated. Hence, tons of paper are saved per day.
– Generation of GSTR-1 returns – GSTR 1 return of the supplier is auto-prepared, hence he need not have to upload the same.
– Officials saved from the monotonous work of collecting and matching the manual waybill with the returns of the taxpayers.
All the advantages of the E-way bill can be leveraged properly with an integrated and automated system of E-way bill generation from your current ERP or inventory management system.
Views expressed by Rohit Khetan, Head of Marketing and Strategy at Ginesys.
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