e-way bill: Movement of goods set to be easy from February 1 

As confirmed by GST Network , from 1st of February transporters will not need separate transit passes for transporting goods from one state to another as the e-way bill issued to them will be valid pan India.

Under the Goods and Services Tax made effective from July last year, inter-state transportation of goods beyond 10 kms of range, with a value of Rs 50,000 and above, will mandatorily require e-way bill from February 1 2018.

GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar said: “Taxpayers and transporters need not visit any check post or tax office as the e-way Bill can be generated electronically in a self-service mode.

“The new system makes generation of e-Way bill very easy on the portal, via mobile App, SMS and for large number of users using offline tool.”
The e-way bill system has already been launched in four states — Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Kerala. These states together generate approximately 1.4 lakh e-way bills per day.

“The remaining states will join during in next two weeks. The trial period will run till January 31 for all stakeholders,” GSTN said in a statement.

It said transporters who want to generate e-way bill can visit the ‘ewaybill.nic.in’ portal and would need to register themselves by giving the GSTIN. Those who are not registered under GST can get themselves enrolled under e-way bill system by providing their Aadhaar or PAN to generate the eWay Bill.

Alert messages are also issued to the users through online and SMS facility.

“Vehicle number can be entered by those who generate E- way Bill or transporter and they can also update the vehicle number in case of vehicle breakdown or transshipment,” said GSTN, the company handling the technology project for GST roll out.

There is also a provision for cancellation of e-way Bill within 24 hours of time.
“No E-way Bill is required for transportation of goods in non- motorised conveyance and also for certain class of goods like fruits, vegetables, fish and water,” the report added.

The e-way bill rules provide for random verification which can be done by a any tax officer on duty. However, he has to upload and provide the requisite report within the specified time frame.

Also, the new rule also says that if a transporter faces detention of more than 30 minutes, he can go online and upload a report on the portal.

Rules, User Manual, Notification, FAQs and Computer based tutorials (CBTs) are available online.

GSTN has invited suggestions from stakeholders on the e-way bill system.