E-way Bill

• The government’s decision to make some changes to the E-way bill system effective November 16, 2018, has not gone down well with transporters.
• Transporters have complained that they have not been communicated properly regarding the changes made by the National Informatics Centre, which handles the e-way bill project.

What is an E-way bill?

• It is a document required to be carried by a person in charge of the conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding fifty thousand rupees as mandated by the Government in terms of Section 68 of the Goods and Services Tax Act.
• It is generated from the GST Common Portal for e-Way bill system by the registered persons or transporters who cause movement of goods of consignment before commencement of such movement.

E-way bills are required:

• To comply with Section 68 of the GST Act, and;
• rule 138 of CGST Rules, 2017

Who can generate e-way bill?

• The consignor or consignee, as a registered person or a transporter of the goods can generate the e-way bill.
• The unregistered transporter can enroll on the common portal and generate the e-way bill for movement of goods for his clients.
• Any person can also enroll and generate the e-way bill for movement of goods for his/her own use.

Whether the e-way bill is required for all the goods that are being transported?

• The e-way bill is required to transport all the goods except exempted under the notifications or rules. Movement of handicraft goods or goods for job-work purposes under specified circumstances also requires e-way bill even if the value of consignment is less than fifty thousand rupees.

Is there any validity period for e-way bill?

• Validity of the e-way bill depends upon the distance the goods have to be transported. In case of regular vehicle or transportation modes, for every 100 KMs or part of its movement, one day validity has been provided.
• And in case of Over Dimensional Cargo vehicles, for every 20 KMs or part of its movement, one day validity is provided. And this validity expires on the midnight of last day.

How to generate e-way bill for multiple invoices belonging to same consignor and consignee?

• If multiple invoices are issued by the supplier to recipient, that is, for movement of goods of more than one invoice of same consignor and consignee, multiple EWBs have to be generated.
• That is, for each invoice, one EWB has to be generated, irrespective of the fact whether same or different consignors or 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 purpose, if goods are going in one vehicle.

Can one extend the validity of the e-way bill?

• Yes, , if the consignment is not being reached the destination within the validity period due to exceptional circumstance like natural calamity, law and order issues, trans-shipment delay, accident of conveyance, etc. The transporter needs to explain this reason in details while extending the validity period.

How can one extend the 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.
• The transporter, who is carrying the consignment as per the e-way bill system at the time of expiry of validity period, can extend the validity period.

National Informatics Centre has categorised e-way bills into four types:

• Regular as mentioned above
• Bill to /Ship to: Sometimes, the tax payer raises the bill to somebody and sends the consignment to somebody else as per the business requirements. There is a provision in the e-way bill system to handle this situation, called as ‘Bill to’ and ‘Ship to’.
• Bill from and Dispatch from: Sometimes, the supplier prepares the bill from his business premises to consignee, but moves the consignment from some others’ premises to the consignee as per the business requirements. This is known as ‘Billing From’ and ‘Dispatching From’.
• Combination of both (2) and (3) mentioned above.