The Central Government recently explained the concept of Electronic Way Bill (E-way Bill) under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) law.
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 goods and generates e-way bill on the GST portal. It 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.
Though India has switched to the GST regime from 1st July 2017, the e-way bill provisions were not implemented due to lack of technical support. Some items such as vegetables, fruits, food grains, meat, bread, curd, books and jewellery out of its ambit. Contraceptives, judicial and non-judicial stamp paper, newspapers, khadi, raw silk, Indian flag, human hair, kajal, earthen pots, cheques, municipal waste, puja samagri, LPG, kerosene, heating aids and currency will also be outside the ambit of the e-way bill.
To generate an e-way bill, the supplier and transporter will have to upload details on the GSTN portal, after which a unique e-way bill number (EBN) will be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the common portal.
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 personwhether 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 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 date from which the e-way bill would come into effect has not been notified by the Government yet.
It is presumed that E-way bills, when implemented, will help central and state tax authorities to keep an eye on factory output and inter-state commerce and provide data relating to consumption of goods, which is useful in policy making.
Read the full text of the Concept Note below.
