From 1st "April", transporters can't make "fool" due to E-way Bill!

Arjuna (Fictional Character): Krishna, Everywhere 1st April is celebrated as 'April fool'. So, what will you tell about that?

Krishna (Fictional Character): Arjuna, April fool means to fool the people. Just for fun on the first day of April, everyone dodge the another person. Even in business also, some transporters dodge the GST officers by doing illegal transportation of goods. But from 1st April 2018, generation of E-way bill becomes compulsory for transportation of inter state supplies, for eg: Supplies from Maharashtra to Gujrat. So it would be difficult to fool (tax evasion) the GST authorities.

Arjuna: Krishna, What is E-way Bill?

Krishna: Arjuna, E-way bill is an electronic document generated on the GST portal evidencing movement of goods. It has two Components-Part A comprising of details of GSTIN of recipient, place of delivery (PIN Code), invoice or challan number and date, value of goods, HSN code, transport document number and reasons for transportation; and Part B comprising of transporter details (Vehicle number). As per CGST Rules, every registered person who causes movement of goods of consignment value more than Rs. 50000/- is required to furnish above mentioned information in part A of e-way bill.

Arjuna: Krishna, Who is required to generate E-way bill?

Krishna: Arjuna, E-way bill is to be generated by the consignor or consignee himself if the transportation is being done in own/hired conveyance or by railways by air or by Vessel. If the goods are handed over to a transporter for transportation by road, E-way bill is to be generated by the Transporter. But if either the consignor or consignee do not generate the e-way bill and the value of goods is more than Rs.50,000/- then responsibility of the generating e-way bill will be of the transporter.

Arjuna: Krishna, Which are the goods for whom E-way bill is not required?

Krishna: Arjuna, No need to generate E-way bill for the goods like petrol, diesel, natural gas, etc which are out of the ambit of GST. Similarly, for tax free or taxable at nil rate, there is no compulsion to generate E-way bill for supply, for eg: sprouts, raw silk, coconut, other agricultural produces etc.

Arjuna: Krishna, would E-way bill be checked?

Krishna: Arjuna, Firstly, the GST officers would check the consignment on the roads, at the time of transportation and secondly, at the time of assessment, they would check the documents i.e, e-way bill. Where any mismatch found, the said goods and documents relating to such goods and conveyance shall be liable to detention or seizure. Unlawful acts of Consignor, consignee, transporter or tax officer may lead to corruption on the road. Hence fooling to the tax authorities (tax evasion) will be difficult now.

Arjuna: Krishna, What lesson the taxpayer should take from this?

Krishna: Arjuna, Now it is not easy for transporters to give dodge to officers. It has been compulsory to generate E-way bill for inter state transportation of goods. As vehicle stops after seeing the red signal, E-way bill has come as Red signal for evasion of tax. So, now E-way bill would be helpful to stop the tax evasion.