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All You Need to Know About Eway Bill 2022-23

Author: Houssed | Posted on: 16-Jan-2023
All You Need to Know About Eway Bill 2022-23

E-way bills are for moving goods of more than ?50,000 across the country. It's an effective tool for tracking goods in transit and checking GST compliance.

E-Way Bill is an Electronic Waybill for transporting goods to be forged on the e-Way Bill Portal. The GST-registered person can only transport goods in a vehicle worth exceeding Rs. 50,000 with an e-way bill on ewaybillgst.gov.in.

Alternatively, Eway bills can also be generated or cancelled through SMS, Android App and site-to-site integration through API entering the correct GSTIN of parties. Validate the GSTIN with the GST search tool before using it.

When an E-way bill gets forged, a unique E-way Bill Number (EBN) is issued and known to the recipient, supplier and transporter.

What is the Significance of E-way Bills?

  • GST unifies India as a market and does away with annoying inter-state check-posts.
  • Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reports that a typical truck in India spends 20 per cent of its time in inter-state checkpoints.
  • Both the GST levy and the E-way bill to root out such transit delays while at the same point promoting tax evasion.
  • Every E-way bill generated by a sender or buyer of goods is automatically updated in the outward sales return (GSTR1), leaving little scope for tax evasions on shipments.
  • In the previous tax regime, tax officials had to manually cross-check the e-waybill with the tax returns filed to verify if all the consignments came within the tax net.

E-Way Bill Rules and Regulations

  • As per Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017, away generation has been implemented from 1st April 2018 for the transportation of goods.
  • If the supplier is not a GST-registered party, then the recipient must generate the e-way bill.
  • The transporter should generate the e-way bill if the recipient or supplier is not a GST-registered party.
  • The e-way bill validity is based on the distance. If the distance is less than 100 km, the validity is 24 hours. For every 100 km, it increases by 24 hours.
  • The e-way bill must get extended anywhere within 8 hours of expiry or after 8 hours by the transporter or party who generated the e-way bill.
  • Unable to transport within the time or extend the validity leads to a penalty.
  • Movement of goods without generating the e-way bill is an offence and subject to levy of a penalty of Rs. 10,000 or evading the tax sought (whichever is greater).
  • Whether transportation is interstate or intrastate, the transporter should have a physical or digital copy of the e-Way bill in hand before the journey begins and the goods are delivered.

Who Should Generate the E-Way Bill?

The e-way bill generation can be done directly in the e-way bill portal or through SMS along with the following documents.

  • GST Registered Party: A GST registered party should develop the E-way bill with the details of the receiver if they are the supplier or details of the supplier if the receiver.
  • GST Unregistered Party: A GST unregistered individual is also needed to develop the e-way bill. The registered person should generate the bill if the goods are moved between GST registered and an unregistered person.
  • Transporter: A transporter carrying goods by any mode of transportation must ensure that the e-way bill gets generated by the supplier or receiver. If not, then the transporter must get it ready by himself.

Requirements to Generate an E-way Bill

Before generating an E-way bill, a person must register on the E-way Bill Portal (E-way Bill Login). Additionally, details such as transporter Id, challan bill, vehicle number, goods value, the distance between the places, invoice, delivery challan, and name of the parties involved must be ready with the E-way Bill generator.

When is the E-way Bill Issued?

An e-way bill has to be issued if the worth of the consignment to be transported is more than Rs. 50,000. E-way bill is issued in case of a supply of goods, the return of goods or when receiving supplies from unregistered persons.

  • Related to a supply.
  • Causes different than a supply (say a return).
  • Inward supply from an unregistered person.
  • The supply might be either-
  • Supply made for payments in the course of business.
  • Supply is made for payments not in the course of business.
  • Supply without payment.
  • Thus, e-way bills must get developed on the portal for any movement.
  • For certain specified goods, the E-way bill gets generated mandatorily even if the value of the consignment of goods is less than Rs. 50,000.
  • In the case of Inter-State movement of Goods to the Job-worker.
  • In the case of Inter-State Transport of Handicraft goods by a dealer exempted from GST registration.

Exceptions to e-way bill requirement

No e-way bill is needed to get forged in the following circumstances-

  1. Transport of goods as defined in Annexure to Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017.
  2. Goods transported by a non-motorised conveyance.
  3. Goods transported from the airport, port, air cargo complex and land customs station to an inland container station or a container freight station for approval by Customs.
  4. In respect of the movement of goods within areas as notified under rule 138(14)(d) of the SGST Rules, 2017 of the concerned State.
  5. Consignment value less than Rs. 50,000.

Articles for which the E-way Bill System wouldn't get required

E-way bill is optional to transport every type of good. The union government has specified the categories for which it is not compulsory to generate E-way Bill. The E-way Bill won't get required in the following cases.

When the following kind of goods gets transported, the E-way Bill is not needed:

  • Aviation turbine Fuel
  • Natural Gas
  • Petrol/Motor Spirit
  • Petroleum Crude
  • High-speed Diesel
  • Alcoholic liquor for human consumption
  • Items under Schedule 3 of the E-way Bill Act

In addition, the following list of goods gets also exempted from E-way Bill generation (E-way bill System)

  • LPG for home supply and exempted categories.
  • Natural and cultured pearls, precious and semi-precious stones.
  • Jewellery, Goldsmith and Silversmith ware.
  • Currency
  • Used personal and household articles.
  • Worked and unworked Coral.

Changes occurred from 1st January 2022

Not only does the accused need to pay the tax and penalty, but also a fine equal to twice the amount of the tax. The entire sum would be classified as a penalty, and nothing would be classified as a tax amount here.

That means that if you seek a refund, you will either receive the entire amount or nothing at all, as opposed to receiving the tax amount in most cases stipulated before.

Section 129 has been delinked from section 67 of the GST Laws, and the provision for granting bonds for goods release will get deleted. The penalty will be equal to the value of the products in the custody of the GST Authorities if another person recovers the seized items and truck.

If the business owner or any person fails to pay a fine for the items and the truck, the truck driver must pay a tax on such commodities.

Latest Update

December 2022: Expiration of E-way bill Does Not Establish Intention of Tax Evasion: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has held that e-way bill expiry does not set a purpose to avoid taxes. The division bench of the Gujarat High Court has observed that the detention of the vehicle was on the ground that the goods were subject to the expiration of the e-way bill, which expired during transit. That cannot be a ground for the detention of trucks and goods and does not establish the intention to evade taxes.

Since introducing an appropriate tax authority in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the union government has tried to facilitate the taxation system of India. E-way Bill System is a step in that direction. Eway Bill is a crucial document while moving goods from one place to another.

The entire E-way Bill system or E-way Bill Login mechanism have designed, developed and maintained by National Informatics Centre (NIC). The NIC provides multiple ways to generate an E-way Bill via SMS, Mobile App, Web and Bulk upload.

If transporting goods of value more than Rs 50,000 while house shifting, you must confirm that the transporter sticks to the E-way Bill norms and rules.

In August, the government made a record-high number of e-way bills. In August, the government made a record-high number of e-way bills. On the whole, 78.21 million got created by companies for carrying goods implemented. A hop in the number of E-way Bills automatically increases the GST revenue.

What Does E-Way Bill Hold for the Business Sector?

Business owners are needed to treat the e-way bill seriously and affirm that the company is obeying all of the laws, rules and regulations as it is applicable.

We should also be aware that the agency has just started to demand E-Way Bill matching. By vigilance in all GST rules and regulations, we can avoid a lot of stress and end up paying a large amount of penalty, increasing the legal costs paid by the entity.

The E-way bill is a helpful tool for controlling tax evasion, and it also helps to track the commodities or goods transported and fixed in the invoice and E-Way Bill by the company and its owners.

It also can bring us under the radar of the GST Authority and other allied officers or departments of the government. And on an eventual basis, this will impact the credibility of our business as a brand.

Conclusion

E-way bill has been a great tool to restrain malpractices held out to avoid taxes and helps keep track of the goods transported and cited in the invoice and E-way bill.

One thing that the introduction of e-way bills has facilitated is the dilution of inter-state boundaries. The quantum of time spread at state borders for verification, and documents was an obstacle to all businesses. The government has been trying to put a perfect system.

FAQ's

If there is a mistake or wrong entry in the e-way bill, it cannot get edited or corrected.
Yes, the e-way bill can get cancelled unless the goods are transported as per the details given in the bill. E-way bills can get cancelled within 24 hours from the time of generation.
Some transporters might not be registered under the Goods and Services Tax Act.
A consolidated e-way bill includes multiple e-way bills for numerous consignments carried in one conveyance.
As per Section 122 of the CGST Act, 2017, one has to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 or the tax they are trying to avoid, whichever is more, when transporting goods without an E-way bill. Section 129 of the CGST Act 2017 states that all goods and conveyances are liable for seizure or detention.