E-Way bill- Rules & Generation Process of eWay bill

An eway bill is a document or receipt issued by a carrier giving details and instructions relating to a consignment of goods. The details include the consignor’s name, consignee, the point of origin of the consignment, route, and its destination.

Electronic Way Bill is a compliance mechanism wherein, through digital networking, the person causing the movement of goods uploads the relevant information before commencing the movement of goods and generates an e-way bill on the GST portal.

The e-way Bill System for the Inter-State movement of goods has been introduced on 01 April 2018. The e-Way bill is mandatory for Inter-State movement of the goods of consignment value exceeding Rs.50,000/- in motorised conveyance.

E-Way Bill under GST

An E-way bill is an electronic document generated on the GST portal evidencing the movement of goods. It has two Components.

1. First part comprising of details of GSTIN of the recipient, place of delivery, invoice or challan number and date, HSN code, the value of goods, transport document number and reasons for transportation
2. Second part comprising of transporter details, e.g. Vehicle number, and other details. As per Rule 138 in the CGST Rules, every registered person who causes movement of goods of consignment value more than Rs. 50000/- is required to furnish the information mentioned earlier in the first part of the e-way bill. The second part containing transport details helps in the generation of the e-way bill.

Purpose of E-Way Bill

An E-way bill is a mechanism to ensure that goods have been transported comply with the GST Law; it is an effective tool to track the movement of the goods and check tax evasion.

Who should generate the e-way bill?

The E-way bill is generated by the consignor if the transportation is being done in own or hired conveyance or by railways, air or Vessel. If the goods are passed over to a transporter for transportation by road, the transporter generates an E-way bill. Neither the consignor nor the consignee generates the bill, and the value of goods is more than Rs.50,000; it will be the transporter’s responsibility to generate it.

Later, it has been provided that goods sent by a principal located in one State to a job worker located in another State. The Electronic Way Bill will be generated by the principal irrespective of the value of the consignment.

The handicraft goods transported from one State to another by a person who has been exempted from obtaining registration. The Electronic Way Bill will be generated by the said person irrespective of the value of the consignment.

How is Electronic Way Bill generated?

An Electronic Way Bill contains two parts- The first Part to be supplied by the person who is causing the movement of goods of batch value exceeding Rs.50,000, and the Second part the transport details to be furnished by the person is transporting the goods.

The goods are transported by a registered man/ women – whether as consignor/ recipient, this person should have to generate the e-way bill by providing information in the second part on the GST Common Portal for eWay bill system.

A registered person and the goods do not generate the electronic way bill handed over to the transporter for transportation by road. The registered person shall submit the information relating to the transporter in the second part of FORM GST EWB-01 on the eWay bill system. The transporter shall generate the e-way bill on the said portal based on the information furnished by the registered person in the first part of FORM GST EWB-01.

The registered person may obtain an Invoice Reference Number from the portal by uploading, it on the portal a tax invoice issued in FORM GST INV-1 and produce the same for verification by the proper officer instead of the tax invoice. Such a number shall be valid for 30 days from the date of uploading.

In the above situation, the registered person will not have to upload the information in the first part of FORM GST EWB-01 to generate the e-way bill. The same will be auto-populated by the portal based on the information furnished in FORM GST INV-1.

Upon generating the e-way bill on the common portal, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) generated by the portal will be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the portal.

The details of the e-way bill generated will be made available to the recipient, if registered on the portal, who will communicate his acceptance or rejection of the consignment covered by the e-way bill. Suppose the recipient does not communicate his acceptance or rejection within 72 hours of the details being made available to him on the portal. In that case, shall deem that he has accepted the said details.

Methods of e-way bill generation

The registered person can generate the e-way bill in any of the following methods;-

• Using a Web-based system – please see the user manual for using the web-based system for electronic way bill generation.
• Using Android App – The app is available only for taxpayers and enrolled transporters. It is not available in Play Store. The primary user has to log in and select the ‘for mobile app’ under the registration menu. The system asks to select the user or sub-user and enter the IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity) of the user. When this number is entered, the concerned user gets the link in his registered mobile to download it through SMS. Then the user has to download the app by clicking that link and installing it on the mobile.
• Using SMS based – The taxpayer has to register the mobile number through which he intends to generate the e-way bill on the electronic way bill system.
• Using GSP- Goods and Services Tax Suvidha Provider
• Using Site-to-Site integration – The integration between the e-way bill system and the registered person’s system can be done through API( Application programming interface ). For getting this facility, the registered person should register the server details of his/her systems (through which he wants to generate the e-way bill using the APIs of the e-way bill system) with the e-way bill system.
• Bulk generation – Through this facility, user can upload multiple invoices and generate multiple e-Way bills in one go. This facility can be used by taxpayers or transporters who have automated their invoice generation system. They can prepare bulk requests for electronic way bills in a file from their automated system, and upload them on the portal and generate e-way bill. It avoids duplicate data entry into the e-way bill system and avoids data entry mistakes also. Any taxpayer/transporter can use the bulk generation facility.

Validity of the E-Way Bill

The validity of the eway bill depends on the distance to be travelled by the goods. For less than 100 Km, the e-way bill will be valid for a day from the relevant date. For every 100 Km after that, the validity will be an additional one day from the relevant date. The “relevant date” means that the date on which the e-way bill has been generated, the period of validity will be counted from the time at which the e-way bill has been generated, and each day will be counted as twenty-four hours. In general, it cannot extend the validity of the e-way bill. The Commissioner may extend the validity period only by way of notification for specific categories of goods that shall specify later.

Further, suppose under circumstances of an exceptional nature, cannot transport the good within the validity period of the e-way bill. In that case, the transporter may generate another e-way bill after updating the details in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01.

Cancellation of the EWay Bill

 An eway bill has been generated under this rule, but goods are transported or are not transported as per the details. The eway bill, the eway bill may be cancelled electronically on the portal, either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner within 24 hours of generation of the eway bill. However, it cannot cancel an e-way bill if verified in transit following the provisions of rule 138B of the CGST Rules, 2017.

Exceptions on e-way bill requirement

There is no need for an e-way bill in the following cases listed below.

• goods being transported from the airport, air cargo complex, port, and land customs station to an inland container depot or a container shipment station for clearance by Customs;
• goods being transported by a non-motorised conveyance;
• Transport of goods as specified in Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017
• Consignment value less than Rs. 50,000/-

Consequences of violating the E-way bill rules

If the e-way bills, wherever required, are not issued following the provisions in Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, the same shall be considered as contravention of rules. As per Section 122 of the CGST Act, a taxable person transports any taxable goods without covering specified documents. Will be liable to a penalty of Rs.10,000 or tax sought to be evaded to wherever applicable, whichever is greater. As per Section 129 of the CGST Act, any person transports any goods or stores any goods. If they are in transit in contravention of the provisions of this Act, all such goods and conveyance used as a means of transport for carrying the goods and documents relating to such goods and conveyance will be liable to detention or seizure.

Documents required to generate eWay Bill

1. Bill of Supply/Invoice/Challan related to the consignment of goods
2. Transport by road – Transporter ID or Vehicle number
3. Transport by air, rail, or ship – Transport document number, Transporter ID, and date on the document

Frequently Asked Questions on E-Way bill Rules

1.What is an eway bill?

The eway bill is a document required to be carried by a person in charge of the vehicle carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding 15000 Rs as mandated by the Government in Section 68 of the Goods and Services Tax Act with the Rule 138 of the Rules framed thereafter. It is generated from the GST Portal for eWay bill system by the registered persons or transporters who cause movement of goods of consignment before commencement of such movement.

2.Why is the eway bill required?

In Section 68 of the Act mandates that the Government may require the person in charge of a transfer carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding such amount to carry with him such documents and such devices as may be prescribed. In the Rule 138 of CGST Rules suggest that an e-way bill is a document to be carried for the consignment of goods in certain cases. Hence electronic way bill generated from the common portal is required.

3.Whether eway bill is required for all the goods that are being transported from one place to another?

The eway bill is required to transport all the goods except exempted under the rules. Movement of handicraft goods/goods for job-work purposes under specified circumstances also requires an e-way bill even if the value of consignment is less than Rs 15000.

4.Who can all generate e-way bill?

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

5.What are the pre-requisites to generate the e-way bill?

The pre-requisite for the generation of e-way bill is that the person who generates the e-way bill should be a registered person on the GST portal, and he should register in the e-way bill portal. If the transporter is not a registered person under GST, he must get enrolled on the e-waybill portal before the generation of the e-way bill. The documents such as tax invoice/Bill of sale/delivery challan and the Transporter’s Id, who is transporting the goods with transporter document number or the vehicle number in which the goods are transported, must be available with the person who is generating the e-way bill.

E-Way bill Explanation video

Official site of eway bill