Welcome of the New year in GST by E-way Bill!

Arjuna (Fictional Character): Krishna, What subjects were discussed in the 24th Council meet of GST held on 16th December?

Krishna (Fictional Character): Arjuna, in the meeting held on 16th December, decisions relating to E-way bill were taken. By overcoming all the conceptual and technical difficulties, Government has decided to levy the provisions of E-way bill.

Arjuna: Krishna, But what is the actual matter of 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. 50,000/- is required to furnish above mentioned information in part A of e-way bill.

Arjuna: Krishna, Who should generate the 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, What is the validity of E-way bill?

Krishna: Arjuna, The validity of e-way bill depends on the distance to be travelled by the goods.

1) For a distance of less than 100 Km the e-way bill will be valid for a day from the relevant date.

2) For every 100 Km thereafter, the validity will be additional one day from the relevant date.

The 'relevant date' shall mean the date on which the e-way bill has been generated and each day shall be counted as twenty-four hours

Arjuna: Krishna, Exactly which decisions are taken in the 24th GST council meet?

Krishna: Arjuna, The nationwide e-way Bill system will be ready to be rolled out on a trial basis latest by 16th January, 2018. Trade and transporters can start using this system if they want on a voluntary basis from 16th January, 2018.

It is to be noted that, from the 1st February the implementation of nationwide e-way Bill system for inter-State movement of goods will be done on a compulsory basis. This will bring uniformity across the States for seamless inter-State movement of goods

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

Krishna: Arjuna, The e-way bill provisions aim to remove the ills of the erstwhile way bill system prevailing under pre GST regime. Moreover different states prescribed different e-way bill rules which made compliance difficult. But now the e-way bill rules will improve the turnaround time of vehicles and help the logistics industry. So, it seems that the GST is welcoming New Year with Levy of provisions of E-way bill.